fifitfi^!??^ ■■■■ — *".-???? 







lis 





Qass. 
Book 



f. 



I 




AMERICAN 



BIOGRAPHICAL PANORAMA, 



BY WILLIAM HUNT. 



« * • » » 



"Hast thou heard the fall of water-drops in deep caves, where heavily, and 
perpetually, and knawingly they eat into the ground on which they fall? Hast thou 
heard the murmuring of the brook that flows on sportively between green banks, 
whilst nodding flowers and beaming lights of heaven mirror themselves in its 
waters? There is a secret twittering and whispering of joy in it. There hast thou 
pictures of two kinds of life, which a re as different the one from the other as hell and 
heaven. Both of them are lived on earth." 

" Not a May-game is a good man's life; not an idle promenade through fragrant 
orange groves, and green flowery spaces, but a battle and a march, a warfare with 
principalities and powers." 



« ♦ • » » 



PRINTED BY JOEL MUNSELL. 
1849. 



E 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1849, by 

WILLIAM HUNT, 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Northern District of New York. 



"o-P 



PREFACE. 



"A little babe lay in the cradle, and Hope came and kissed it. The 
babe grew to a child, and another friend came and kissed it. Her name 
was Memory. She said, "Look behind thee, and tell me what thou 
seest." The child answered, " I see a little book." Then Memory said, 
" I will teach thee to get honey from thy book, that will be sweet to thee 
when tJiou art old." The youth became a man, and at length age found 
him. The old man laid down to die, and when his soul went from his 
body. Memory walked with it through the open gate of Heaven." 

lOGKAPHY teaches many useful les- 
sons, but as the eye of the indulgent 
reader glances over the following im- 
perfect sketches, let it be remembered 
^ that the pen of the biographer can nar- 
^ rate only the outward acts of man. These 
P are the sole guides to his conclusions. Bat 
there is another biographer, whose fidelity 
can not be questioned, constantly at work, da- 
guerreotyping upon the mind all that is unseen 
by the world. The name of that historian is 
Memory, the perusal of whose book in our future 
existence, will yield honey or wormwood. What- 
ever may have been the station of the body on earth, 
Memory will walk with the soul through the open 
gates of the spirit land; and the portrait which 
she will there exhibit, will be true to the life. Then, 
when neither restitution can be offered, nor atone- 
ment made, how thrilling will be the comparison 
which the awakened conscience will draw, between 
what we might have done, and what we have done ! 
The recalling, by a flash, and involuntarily as it 
were, the whole of past life, by a drowning man, 
and the very singular peculiarity, that while con- 
sciousness is still active and death imminent, the 




4 PREFACE. 

past and not the future is alone present to the mind, 
seem to attest the ineffaceable power of memory, 
and that nothing once impressed upon this faculty 
ever perishes, but becomes immortal as the spiritual 
essence of which memory is a part. The power to 
recall at will these impressions, may indeed perish, 
but the impressions themselves never. The memory 
is for each one the true book of life, where every 
act done in the body, and every good or evil thought 
that has passed through the mind, has its undying 
record, which at the last day shall bear witness of 
the past life of each. 

The following extract from a letter by Admiral 
Beaufort to Dr. Wollaston, in the Memoirs of Sir 
John Barrow, admirably illustrate the above views, 
and must awaken suggestions of deep interest to 
every thinking mind. 

Many years a<^o, when I was a youngster on board one of his majesty's 
ships in Portsmouth harbor, after sculHnfr about in a very small boat, I 
was endeavoring to fasten Jier alongside the ship to one of the scuttle- 
rin"-s. In tbolish eagerness I stepped upon the gunwale, the boat of 
course upset, and I fell into the water, and not knowing how to swim, all 
my efforts to lay hold either of the boat or the floating sculls were fruit- 
less. The transaction had not been observed by the sentinel on the 
gangway, and therefore it was not till the tide had drifted me some dis- 
tance astern of the ship, that a man in the foretop saw me splashing in 
the water and gave the alarm. The first lieutenant instantly and gallantly 
jumped overboard, the carpenter ibllowed his example, and a gunner 
hastened into a boat and i)ulled after them. 

With the violent but vain attempts to make myself heard, I swallowed 
much water; I was soon exhausted by my struggles, and before any 
relief reached I had sunk below the surface — all hope had fled — all exer- 
tion ceased — and I felt that I was drowning. 

So far, these facts were either jiartially remembered after my recovery, 
or supj)lied by those who had latterly witnessed the scene ; for during 
an interval of such agitation a drowning person is too miich occupied in 
catching at every passing straw, or too absorbed by alternate liope and 
despair, to marktlie succession of events very accurately. Not so, how- 
ever, with the facts which immediately ensued ; my mind had then uuder- 
ffone the sudden revolution which ai'peared to you so remarkable — and 
all the circumstances of which are now as vividly fresh in my memory 
as if they had occurred but yesterday. 

From the moment that every exertion had ceased — which I imagine 
was the immediate consequence of comi)lete suffocation — a cahn feeling 
of the most perfect tranquility superseded the tumultuous sensations — it 
might be called apathy, certainly not resignation, for drowning no longer 
appeared to be an evil — I no longer thought of being rescued, nor was I 
in any bodily pain. Ou the contrary, n)y sensations were now of rather 



PREFACE. 6 

a pleasurable cast, partaking of that dull but contented sort of feeling 
which precedes the sleep produced by fatigue. Though the senses were 
thus deadened, not so the mind; its activity seemed to be invigo- 
rated, in a ratio which defies all description — for thought rose after 
thought with a rapidity of succession that is not only indescribable 
but probably inconceivable, by any one who lias not himself been 
in a similar situation. The course of those thoughts I can even now in 
a great measure retrace — the event which had just taken place — the 
awkwardness that had produced it — the bustle it must have occasioned 
(for I had observed two persons jump from the ciiains) — the effect it would 
have on a most affectionate father — the manner in wiiich he would dis- 
close it to the rest of the family — and a thousand other circumstances 
minutely associated with home, were the first series of reflections that 
occurred. They took then a wider range — our last cruise — a former 
voyage, and shipwreck — my school — the progress I had made there, and 
the time I miss|)ent — and even all my boyish pursuits and adventures. 
Thus traveling backwards, every past incident of my life seemed to 
glance across my recollection in retrograde succession ; not, however, in 
mere outline, as here stated, but the picture filled up with every minute 
and collateral feature ; in short tlie whole period of my existence seemed 
to be placed before me in a kind of panoramic reviev/. 

May not all this be some indication of the almost infinite power of 
memory with wliich we may awaken in another world, and thus be com- 
pelled to contemplate our past lives? Or might it not in some degree 
warrant the inference, that death is only a change or modification of 
our existence, in which there is no real pause or interruption? But 
however, that maybe, one circumstance was highly remarkable; that the 
innumerable ideas which flashed into my mind were all retrospective — 
yet I had been religiously brought up — my hopes and fears of the next 
world had lost nothing of their early strength, and at any other period, 
intense interest and awful anxietj' would have been excited by the mere 
probability that I was floating on the threshhold of eternity: yet at that 
inexplicable moment when I had af nil conviction that I had already 
crossed the threshhold, not a single thought wandered into the future — 
I was wrapt entirely in the past. 

In this view then, with what solemnity is every 
thought and every act invested, not only with refer- 
ence to ourselves but to others! 

At the battle of Wagram, Napoleon found him- 
self where it was impossible to advance or retreat 
without ruin. Within the range and under the 
full fire of the Austrian guns, the army of France 
must wait an expected reinforcement a whole hour's 
time, each man standing with folded arms and un- 
flinching brow, in all the dangers of the hottest 
battle, but bereft of the benefit of its excitement. 
What wonder that the men of Lodi quivered and 
fell? They could die in battle — that was nothing; 
but to stand still and be slaughtered — they were not 



6 PREFACE. 

trained for that. It was at this moment, when 
murmurings and weakness spread through all ranks, 
and no orders were heeded, that the emperor 
mounted his favorite Arabian, and rode slowly out in 
the sight of his vast army, and back and forth before 
them the entire hour, within the range of the ene- 
my's shortest guns, and with the whole artillery of 
Austria sweeping his course; thus holding to their 
places that mighty host of his, with the ease that a 
giant holds a mill-stone above the deep. He ruled 
by example. 

And who is there, who does not, in a greater or 
less degree, rule by example ! Desponding man of 
virtue, how do you know how many are kept in 
their places by your perseverance in the right way ! 
Man of vice, in high station, influenced by your ex- 
ample, but unknown to you, what numbers are 
turning traitors to themselves ! 

We see not in life the end of human actions. In 
every widening circle their influence reaches be- 
yond the grave. Every morning when we go forth, 
we lay the moulding hand on our destiny and that 
of others; and every evening when we have done, 
we have left a deathless impress upon character. 
We have not a thought but vibrates along the moral 
telegraphic into eternity, and reports at the throne 
of God. 

It is related of Bishop Latimer, that when called 
up for private examination before his popish perse- 
cutors, he was not at first very particular, as to the 
expressions he made use of in his replies; "but," 
added that holy martyr, when narrating the circum- 
stance, " I soon heard the pen going behind the 
arras, and found that all I said was taken down, 
and then I was careful enough of what I uttered." 

And would that we could always realize the fact, 
that while we are acting, talking or thinking, every 
word and thought is recorded above as soon as en- 
gendered here ! 



CONTENTS. 



Adams, John Quincy 178 Draper, Simeon 295 

Adams, John 47 Ellery, William 62 

Adams, Samuel 52 Ellis, S 417 

Adams, Louisa Catherine. . . . 185 Floyd, William 63 

Austin, J. J 420 Franklin, Benjamin 65 

Albright, John 478 Fillmore, Millard 459 

Bronson, C. P 408 Gregg, Samuel 404 

Brooks, Peter C 339 Gerry, Elbridge 75 

Briggs, George N 321 Gwinnett, Button 77 

Blackwell, Elizabeth 430 Gustin, Lydia 479 

Benton, Thomas H 244 Harrison, W. H 199 

Bryant, David 374 Hitchcock, F 403 

Braxton, Carter 56 Hall, Lyman 81 

Bostwick, Homer 411 Hammond, J. D 326 

Bullard, Walter 450 Hancock, John 82 

Bradish, Luther 455 Hamblin, S. J 335 

Beach, Wooster 462 Hari-ison, Benjamin 84 

Collamer, Jacob, 299 Holmes, Oliver W 341 

Clay, Henry 236 Hart, John 86 

Chapiu,D 429 Hayward, Thomas 87 

Coventry, C. B 363 Hamilton, Frank H 349 

Carroll, Charles 57 Hewes, Joseph 89 

Cornell, W. M 360 Hale, John K 354 

Chase, Samuel 59 Hooper, William 90 

Clark, Alvan 435 Hopkins, Stephen 91 

Clark, Abraham 60 Hopkinson, Francis 93 

Clymer, George 61 Huntington, Samuel 94 

Dexter, G. M 427 Hunt, Sen., Sanford 254 

Dean, Amos 443 Hunt, Washington 258 

Dunn, R. B 476 Hunt, Jun., Sanford 264 



8 



CONTENTS. 



Ives, Willard 407 

Jackson, Charles T 368 

Jackson, Andrew 187 

Jefferson, Thomas 96 

Johns, Kensey 318 

Kittredge, E. A 414 

Lee, Heniy Richard 99 

Lee, Francis Lightfoot 101 

Lewis, Francis 102 

Livingston, Philip 104 

Livingston, Robert R 106 

Lynch, Jun., Thomas 115 

Libby, James 457 

Marston, E 420 

McKean, Thomas 118 

Matsell, G. W 443 

Middleton, Arthur 119 

Morris, Robert 121 

Marsh, Charles 301 

Morris, Lewis 123 

Morton, John 125 

Madison, James 170 

Madison, D.P 172 

Monroe, James 175 

Nott, Eliphalet 453 

Nelson, Thomas 126 

Newton, John 279 

O'Neil, C 422 

Piatt, Jonathan 298 

Polk, James K 202 

Parker, Amasa J 376 

Payne, Worden 475 

Paca, William 128 

Paine, Robert Treat 129 

Penn, John 131 

Pilsbury, Amos 388 

Read, George 132 



Rodney, Caesar 133 

Ross, George 134 

Rush, Benjamin 135 

Rutledge, Edward 138 

Ray, Gilbert 479 

Stewart, Charles S 266 

Stewart Harriet B 273 

Sherman, Roger 140 

Smith, James 143 

Stockton, Richard 144 

Street, Alfred B 311 

Stone, Thomas 150 

Sigourney, Lydia If 214 

Smith, M.B 419 

Sears, Robert 356 

Smilie, E. R 399 

Tompkins, Patrick W 304 

Taylor, Zachary 204 

Tremain, Lyman 288 

Taylor, George 151 

Tyler, John 201 

Thornton, Matthew 152 

Van Buren, Martin 196 

Walton, George 154 

Ward, Ulysses 305 

Whipple, William 157 

Williams, William 159 

Wilson, James 160 

Webster, Daniel 207 

Wool, John E 22r 

Washington, George 9 

Washington, Martha 28 

Washington, Mary 31 

Washington, William H 38 

Washington, Bushrod 40 

Winslow, Richard 472 



AMERICAN EIOGRAPHICAL PANORAMA. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

" Where shall the weary eye repose, 

When gazing on the great ; 
Where neitlier guilty glory glows 

Nor despicable state .'' 
Yes — one — the first — the last — the best — 
The Cincinnatus of the West, 
Bequeathed the name of Washington, 
To make man blush there was but one." 

" When Washington was born Freedom wept for joy." 

'ALMLY beneath the moon-beams sleeps the 
Potomac in the hush of the holy night. 
There is not a sound save the dreamy mur- 
murs of the wind through the tall trees that 
stretch along the shore, and the low musical 
chime of the rippling waters, which, reflecting 
a silvery light on every wavelet, soft as the memory 
of first love, seem like a sea of gems. The green 
slopes of Mount Vernon lie peacefully on the river's 
bosom, as if no sound of war-like preparations had 
ever echoed through its groves, or the steps of mar- 
tial feet crushed down its dewy flowers. The stars 
are glittering without a cloud to obscure their light; 
and the full moon, sweetly, calmly, like a good man 
gliding in peace to the land of sleepers, is sinking 
to her wavy couch. She has risen upon rich and 
powerful states, and has glittered upon their monu- 
ments. Imperial Rome, rich in empire, was beheld 
by her who now casts her mystic and undimmed 
light upon its magnificent ruins. Unchanging and 
unchangeable, she has looked down from her silent 

2 



10 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

home upon forgotten Thebes, sceptreless Larissa, 
and unremembered Phillippi, as she did when the 
world trembled at their frown or perished beneath 
their tread. Cities have changed and passed away ; 
nations have arisen and decayed ; like the dew they 
have gone, and her course is still onward. But nes- 
tled among green bowers, and bathed in her mild 
beams, is a sacred spot, which contains the ashes of 
a man, whose name shall shine among the just 
when her light shall have been extinguished in the 
ocean of Time. It is the last resting place of "the 
greatest man who ever lived in this world, unin- 
spired by divine wisdom and unsustained by super- 
natural virtue." It is the tomb of Washington and 
of Martha his wife. 

The ancestors of Washington may be traced for 
a considerable distance among the old English gen- 
try in Lancashire. There was a manor of that 
name in the county of Durham, and about the year 
1250, William de Hertburn, the proprietor, assumed 
the name of his estate. From him the Washington 
family have descended. 

Samuel FuUaway, Esq., gives an interesting ac- 
count of a monument in England, erected to the 
memory of some of the ancestors of our beloved 
patriot. 

The monument in question is in Garsdon, Wilt- 
shire. The village of Garsdon is about two miles 
from Malmsbury, and the church is an ancient 
Gothic edifice, situated in the bosom of a rich coun- 
try, and surrounded with venerable trees. The 
country people have for many years been in the 
habit of conducting strangers to the church, for the 
purpose of pointing out the venerable memorial of 
the Washington Family — in former ages the lords 
of the manor of Garsdon, and the residents of the 
Court House, a building of the olden time — gray with 
the lapse of centuries. 

The monument was once a superb specimen of 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 11 

the mural style — and even now exhibits relics of 
richness and curious workmanship. It is to be seen 
in the chancel, on the left side of the altar, and is 
richly carved out of the stone of that part of the 
country. It is surmounted with the family coat of 
jarms, which form a rich emblazonment of heraldry ; 
and although two hundred years have rolled away 
since it Avas erected, they are still burnished with 
gilding. 

The following are the inscriptions : 

TO YE 

MEMORY OF 
SIR LAWRENCE WASHINGTON, Nite, 

Lately Chief Register 

OF YE 

CHAUNCERYE, 

Of Renowne, Pyety, and Charytie, 

An Exemplarye and Lovinge Husband, A Tender 

Father, A BountefuU Master, A Constante 

Reliever of ye Poore ; And to Thoas 

Of his Parish, A Perpetuall 

Benefactor; 

Whom it Pleased 

GOD TO TAKE INTO IS PEACE, 

From the Furye of the Insuing Warrs. 

Born May XIV. 

He Was Heare Interrd, 

May XXIV. An. Dm, 1643. 

iETAT. SUiE, 64. 

Heare Also Lyeth 

DAME ANNE, 

ISWIFE, WHO DECEASED 

January Xlllth ; And Who 

Was Buryed XVIth, 

Anno Dni. 1645. 

Hie Patrios cineras, cnravit filius urna, 

Condere qui Tamulo, nuncjacet ille pius. 

The pyous Son His Parents here interrd. 
Who hath his share in time, for them prepared. 



12 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The old Manor House of Garsdon is now occu- 
pied by a respectable, and, indeed, opulent farmer, 
named Woody — two of whose sons lately came 
over to this country in the ship Philadelphia, and 
are gone back into the state of Ohio. Mr. Woody 
rents his farm and house of Lord Andover. Thisjp 
ancient seat of the Washington family is handsome, 
very old-fashioned, and built of stone, with im- 
mense solidity and strength. The timber about it 
is chiefly British oak, and in several of the rooms, 
particularly in a large one, which was the old hall 
or banquetting-room — there are rich remains of 
gilding, carved work in cornices, ceilings and pan- 
els, polished floors and wainscoting — with shields 
containing the same coat of arms as on the mural 
monument in the church, carved over the high, 
venerable and architectural mantel-pieces. Beneath 
the house are extensive cellars, which, with the 
banquetting-room, would seem to indicate the genu- 
ine hospitality and princely style of living peculiar 
to— 

"A fine old English gentleman, 
All of tJie olden time." 

And, indeed, according to the traditions and chroni- 
cles of the country, such was the general charac- 
ter of the heads of the Washington family. Soon 
after the civil war, the family left their ancient 
seat, and removed to another part of the kingdom^ — 
but an old man now living in the village, named 
Beeves, who is ninety years of age, states that he 
remembers one of the Washingtons living in that 
part of the country, when he was "a boy; and that 
his great-grandfather remembered the last Squire 
Washington living at the Manor House. Tiie walls 
of the house are five feet thick, and the entire resi- 
dence is surrounded by a beautiful garden and or- 
chards. In the old parish archives the Washington 
family are constantly referred to as the benefactors 
of the parish ; and from the very earliest recorded 
times, they seem to have been the Lords of the soil 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 13 

at Garsdon, down to the period of their leaving — 
when the Manor House fell into the hands of a fa- 
mily named Dobbs. 

From the Church and Manor or Court House of 
Garsdon, there are the remains of an ancient paved 
^fccauseway, extending for about two miles, to the far- 
Kimed Abbey and cloisters of Malmesbury, founded 
and endowed by King Athelstan — not only cele- 
brated for its power and splendor in Catholic days, 
but also as being the birth place and residence of 
William of Malmesbury, one of the earliest of 
British historians. 

In the year 1657 John and Lawrence AVashington, 
brothers of Sir William Washington, immigrated to 
Virginia and settled at Bridge Creek, on the Poto- 
mac, in the county of Westmoreland, John died in 
1697, leaving two sons, John and Augustine. The 
latter was twice married, having three sons and a 
daughter by his first wife, Jane Butler; and four 
sons and two daughters by the second, Mary Ball, 
to whom he was united on the 6tli of March, 1730. 
George, the subject of our sketch, was the eldest 
son by the second marriage. He was born on the 
22d February, 1732, and was the sixth in descent 
from the first Lawrence Washington. The father 
of the future hero died in 1743, leaving, as the fruit 
of his own exertions, a large estate in land, out of 
which he demised a separate plantation to each of 
his sons. George received the paternal residence 
and adjacent estate in Stafford county, on the Eap- 
pahannoc. This occurred when George was not 
more than eleven years of age, and the cares of a 
large family devolved upon his young mother. But 
gifted with a strong mind, she performed her duty 
with fidelity and success. 

A beautiful eastern allegory, setting forth the 
power of maternal influence, says, " The rose was of 
a pure and^potless white, when in Eden it first spread 
out its leaves to the morning sunlight of creation. 



14 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Eve, the mother of mankind, the first time she 
gazed upon the tintless gem, could not suppress her 
admiration of its beauty, and stooping down, im- 
printed a kiss upon its sunny bosom. Tiie rose 
stole the scarlet tinge from her velvet lips and yet 
v/ears it." Jp 

So to Mary the mother of Washington are we in- 
debted for the glowing tints of virtue, which she 
impressed upon the heart of her son, to whose glory 
royalty could not add a single ray, and of whom 
one of the mightiest conquerors of modern times 
exclaimed with a sigh: "His name shall live as 
the founder of a great republic, when mine shall 
have been lost in the vortex of revolutions." 

George received only a common English educa- 
tion, and never learned any foreign language, either 
dead or living. During the last year he was at school, 
he devoted himself to the study of surveying, and 
the correlative sciences, for Avhich he manifested a 
strong practical taste. From his earliest years he 
was studious and thoughtful, and such was his de- 
meanor, that his companions always made him um- 
pire in cases of dispute. Truth and strict integrity 
were his prominent characteristics, of which, says 
Lossing, the following will serve as an illustration: 
" In company with other boys he secured a fiery 
colt, belonging to his mother, yet unbroken to the 
bit. The affrighted animal dashed furiously across 
the fields, and in his violent exertions, burst a blood 
vessel and died. The colt was a valuable one, and 
many youths would have sought an evasive excuse. 
Not so with George. He went immediately to his 
mother, and stating plainly all the circumstances, 
asked her forgiveness, which of course was readily 
granted. Her reply is remarkable: "Young man, 
I forgive you, because you have the courage to tell 
the truth at once; had you skulked away, I should 
have despised you." 

When fourteen years of age, he received a mid- 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 15 

shipman's warrant in the British navy, but relin- 
quished his ardent ambition to accept it, at the soli- 
citations of his widowed mother. In 1748 he was 
appointed to survey Lord Fairfax's lands, and next 
year received the appointment of a public surveyor. 
In 1751 he was commissioned an adjutant-general 
with the rank of major, by the government of V^ir- 
ginia, with the pay of ^£150 a year, to drill the mili- 
tia of a district in anticipation of incursions from 
Indians and French. In September he sailed with 
his consumptive brother, Lawrence, to Barbadoes, 
where he was attacked with the small pox. In 
1752 his brother returned from Bermuda to die, and 
George was the active executor of his will. During 
this year also, Gov. Dinwiddle assigned the north- 
ern division of Virginia to the military command 
of young Washington. In 1753 he was appointed 
by Gov. Dinwiddle, commissioner to treat Avith the 
French commandant, concerning the invasion of 
the settlements of the English by the latter. He 
made an address to some Indian chiefs at Logstown, 
requesting, according to his instructions, an escort, 
which they granted. He reached the French post 
after a journey of forty-one days, having traversed 
a most dangerous, cheerless, and difhcult route of 
five hundred and sixty miles. His journey back in 
December, abounded in terrible risks and severe 
sufferings; but he arrived at Williamsburgh safely, 
on the 16th of January, 1754. His journal was 
printed by order of Gov. Dinwiddle, in order to arouse 
the English to resistance to the designs avowed by 
the French commandant in his interview with 
Major Washington, and two hundred men were 
enlisted, over whom the latter was placed in chief 
command, on account of his courage and discretion 
as exhibited in the execution of his commission. 
In 1754 the Virginia troops were increased to six 
companies, and Washington was promoted to the 
second command, the lieutenant-colonelcy, Colonel 



16 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Joshua Fry being commander-in-chief of the re- 
cruits. With three companies he pressed into the 
wilderness, and on the 25th of May fought the skir- 
mish of the Great Meadows, with a loss of one killed 
and three wounded. Jumonville, the leader of the 
French party, and ten of his men, were killed; and 
twenty-two taken prisoners. It was in this fray 
that he heard the bullets whistle, and felt — accord- 
ing to the popular but ill-authenticated anecdote — 
that there was " something charming in the sound." 
In June, Col. Fry died, and Washington was ap- 
pointed to the chief command of the Virginia regi- 
ment, with a colonel's commission. In July, after 
an advance, he retreated to the Great Meadows, 
fortified Fort Necessity, a name chosen by himself, 
and on the third day of the month, fought the battle 
of the Great Meadows. On the fourth, in conse- 
quence of the immense superiority of the French 
forces, he capitulated after fighting all day. For 
his gallantry, he received a vote of thanks from the 
Virginia house of burgesses. An enlargement of 
the army shortly after, reduced him to the rank of 
captain, and he resigned his commission. 

Gen. Braddock arrived at Virginia with two regi- 
ments of British regulars, in March, 1755, and re- 
quested Washington to be a member of his military 
family, and accompany the expedition against the 
French. Washington joined the army as a volun- 
teer colonel. He gave a plan of march, which pre- 
vailed in a council of war; and although detained 
with the rear division of the army for nearly two 
weeks, by a raging fever, he overtook Braddock the 
evening before the battle of the Monongahela, which 
occurred July 9th, 1755, and is known as the me- 
lancholy defeat of Braddock;* memorable for the 

*The Last of Braddock's Men. — Tlie Lancaster (Ohio,) Gazette an- 
nounces the death, at that place, on the 4th of January, 1849, of Samuel 
Jenkins, a colored man, aged one hundred and fifteen years. He was born 
a slave, the pro[»erty of Capt. Broadwater, m Fairfax county, Virginia, in 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 17 

loss of nearly half the English army, and for the 
fact that Washington's fame seemed to take root 
in the very scenes, which were so shameful and 
disastrous to all his superior officers. He was now 
twenty-three years old. He was appointed, August 
14th, to the command of the Virginia troops.* In 
1758, under the inspiring counsels of Pitt, the cam- 
paign began to be prosecuted offensively against 
the French. Washington commanded the advance 
party in the march, which resulted in' the bloodless 
capture of Fort Duquesne on the 25th of November, 
1758. He resigned his commission soon after, re- 
ceived a flattering address from his brother officers, 
and retired from the army. 

He married Mrs. Martha Custis, Avidow of John 
Parke Custis, and daughter of John Dandridge, 
January 6th, 1759. Mrs. Custis was the mother of 
two children by her former husband. His marriage 
added more than one thousand dollars to his fortune. 
He was elected a member of the Virginia house of 
burgesses, without his own solicitation, and retained 
this office until 1764. He then retired, and occu- 
pied himself solely as a planter. 

1734. He drove his master's i)rovision wagon over the Alleghany Moun- 
tains, in the nieinorahle campaign of Gen. Braddock, and remained in 
service at the Big Meadows until its close. He was held as a slave until 
about forty years ago, when, upon the death of his master, he was pur- 
chased by a gentlemen, who brought him to the state of Ohio, and thusi 
released him from bondage. Soon after his liberation he settled in Lau 
caster, where he continued to reside until his death. Although his bodily 
frame had given way, he retained his mental faculties to the last. It is 
thought he was the last man living, either white or colored, who served 
in Braddock's expedition in 1755, against the French and Indians. 

* He went on to Boston to petition Gen. Shirley, commander-in-chief 
of his majesty's forces in America, to settle a question of rank between 
himself and a recusant captain. He was received with marks of great 
curiosity and respect in the cities along his route. While at New York 
he was the guest of 3Ir. Beverly Robinson, and there became enamored 
with Miss Mary Phillips, a sister of Mrs. Robinson, but failed to prosecute 
his suit as soon as he heard of a rival in the field. He seemed to have 
an ambition too large to condescend to be the competitor of another in 
the emulation of love. The lady married CajJt. Morris, the rival alluded 
to. — Lit. Mag. 

3 



J 8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

He took early and decided groimd against the 
evident attempts of the British ministry to assert 
unheard-of rights over the colonies. He was one 
of the eighty-nine delegates of the Virginia house 
of burgesses, who after being dismissed by the 
alarmed governor, on account of their solemn re- 
monstrances against the Boston Port Bill, met in a 
tavern to reiterate their sentiments, and proposed 
the first congress. When the convention of Wil- 
liamsburg met, August 1st, 1774, Washington was 
present, and was one of the seven delegates ap- 
pointed to attend the general congress, which was 
opened September 1st. He was present, and his 
conduct in this body called out the celebrated eulogy 
of Patrick Henry, in answer to a question from a 
friend : " If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Eutledge, 
of South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but 
if you speak of solid information and sound judg- 
ment. Col. Washington is unquestionably the great- 
est man on that floor." In 1775 he was chosen a 
delegate to the second continental congress. The 
sons of New England had already shed their blood 
at Lexington and Concord, and congress went at 
once to work to provide for the defence of the 
country. 

He was unanimously chosen commander-in-chief 
of the continental army, on the first ballot in con- 
gress, on the 16th of June, 1775. He accepted the 
office, declining the pay of $500 a month ollered by 
congress, and proposing to keep an account of his 
expenses, which might be liquidated by the conti- 
nent. On the 3d of July, he took command of the 
army at Cambridge, Mass. Boston, after being 
thoroughly invested by the American army under 
Washington, was evacuated by Gen. Howe and the 
British troops, March 17th, 17 76; for which blood- 
less achievement the commander-in-chief received 
a gold medal from congress. He shortly after mov- 
ed the American army to New York, and took the 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 19 

command on the IStli of April. On the 9th of July, 
he received the Declaration of Independence, and 
ordered it to be read to the army at 6 p. m. At this 
time, Gen. Howe and the British army were qnar- 
tered at Staten Island. The battle of Lonjr Island 
occurred on the 17th of August, between 15,000 
British and 5,000 Americans. The latter were beat- 
en, and Washington ordered the memorable retreat 
to New York on the 29th. 

The evacuation of New York, the slight flush of 
victory on Haerlem Heights, the disaster of Chat- 
terton's Hill, the capture of Fort AVashington, the 
evacuation of Fort Lee, followed rapidly, and under 
these reverses Washington bore up nobly, inspiring 
his army and advising congress, and becoming the 
soul of the war. On December 27th, 1776, he was 
invested with absolute military control by congress, 
and thenceforward the American revolution was 
confided to his single direction. On the 26th, the 
tide of fortune had begun to turn at the victory of 
Trenton, won with the loss of only two Americans 
killed, while the enemy lost about thirty killed and 
a thousand prisoners. On the od of January, AVash- 
ington gained the victory of Princeton, at which 
one hundred of the enemy were killed and three 
hundred captured. The country rang with the 
praises of its hero. He had now fired the Ameri- 
cans with his own spirit. 

On September 1 Ith, 1777, the fierce, unequal and 
unfortunate battle of Brandy wine was fought, but 
no confidence was lost in Washington, who was 
immediately endowed with yet higher powers than 
before. The bloody fight of Germantown, with 
bright beginning and disastrous ending, occurred 
October 4th, under Washington's direction, and was 
considered, on the whole, favorable to the American 
cause, as shosving the valor of raw troops under a 
brave commander. 

About this time Conway's cabal, in which Gene- 



20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

rals Gates and Mifflin figured largely, was in full 
progress, but Washington took no pains to defeat it, 
although it was aimed at his own overthrow. Al- 
though it had supporters in congress, the miserable 
scheme was scorched up in public contempt, and 
Conway, when once in apprehension of speedy 
death, made most humble concessions to the lofty 
mark of his malice. The terrible winter of 1778-9 
at Valley Forge called out all the magnificent re- 
sources of greatness which Washington possessed, 
and is one of the brightest passages in his immortal 
history. April 22d, congress, with the decided ap- 
proval of the commander-in-chief' unanimously re- 
jected Lord North's conciliatory bills. The victory of 
Monmouth was won under his personal command 
on June 28th. He ordered the terrible storming of 
Stony Point, which was successful, under General 
Wayne, July 15th, 1779. 

Yorktown and Gloucester were surrendered by 
Lord Cornwallis on the 17th of October, 1781, on 
terms prescribed by Washington. May 22d, 1782, 
he wrote his indignant reply to the letter, which 
proposed the establishment of an American mon- 
archy, with himself for its head. On March 15th he 
made the celebrated address to his officers, which 
quieted their discontent and renewed their faith in 
congress and in their country. His farewell speech 
to the army was made public on the second of No- 
vember, 1783. On December 4th, he held his last 
affecting interview with his officers, and on the 25tli 
of the same month resigned his office, determined 
to devote himself forever to retirement, refusing to 
the last the most strenuous offers of pecuniary 
recompense for any of his eminent services. 

On December 4th he was appointed by the Vir- 
ginia legislature a delegate to a general convention 
of the states, December 4th, 1786; and on May 
14th, 1787, he was elected president of the con- 
vention. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 21 

The constitution was proposed by this convention 
and he was unanimously elected First President of 
the United States in April, 1789. He was inau- 
gurated April 30th, in New York, which was then 
the seat of the government. In 1793, in answer to 
the urgent solicitation of distinguished statesmen of 
both the parties which had begun to divide the coun- 
try, he accepted a second election to the presidency. 
He signed his celebrated proclamation of neutrality, 
with regard to the European war growing out of the 
French revolution, which called down on his head 
for the first time, the malignity of mere partisan ani- 
mosity. Congress sustained the proclamation with 
apparent unanimity. In October, 1794, he took 
command of the army raised to put down the 
Whiskey rebellion in Pennsylvania, but returned in 
consequence of hearing that hostilities would pro- 
bably be unnecessary. He signed the treaty with 
Great Britain on the 18th of August, 1795. His 
Farewell Address — one of the most extraordinary 
documents that ever came from the pen of man — 
was published September 15th, 1796. The insolent 
demand of money by the executive directory of 
France, induced congress to authorize the enlist- 
ment of ten thousand men, and to appoint AVash- 
ington to the command of the army, July 2nd, 1798. 
The difficulty was however settled amicably. He 
died, painfully but trustfully, on the 14th of Decem- 
ber, 1799. We speak the literal truth, when we 
say that the nation went into mourning over the 
sad event. 

How grateful the relief, says Brougham, which 
the friend of mankind, the lover of virtue experi- 
ences, when his eye rests upon the greatest of our 

OWN OR OF ANY OTHER AGE. 

In Washington we truly behold a marvelous con- 
trast to almost every one of the endowments and 
vices which we have been contemplating; and which 
are so well fitted to excite a mingled admiration, and 



22 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

sorrow, and abhorrence. With none of that bril- 
liant genius which dazzles ordinary minds ; with not 
even any remarkable quickness of apprehension; 
with knowledge less than almost all persons in the 
middle ranks, and many well educated of the hum- 
bler classes possess; this eminent person is presented 
to our observation clothed in attributes as modest 
and unpretending, and as little calculated to strike 
or to astonish, as if he had passed unknown through 
some secluded region of private life. But he had a 
judgment sure and sound; a steadiness of mind 
which never sufiered any passion, or even any feel- 
ing to ruffle its calm; a strength of understanding 
which worked rather than forced its way through 
all obstacles — removing or avoiding rather than 
overleaping them. His courage, whether in battle 
or in council, M'"as as perfect as might be expected 
from this pure and steady temper of soul. A per- 
fectly just man, with a thoroughly firm resolution 
never to be misled by others, any more than by oth- 
ers overawed; never to be seduced or betrayed, or 
hurried away by his own weakness or self-delusions, 
any more than by any other men's arts; nor even 
to be disheartened by the most complicated difficul- 
ties, any more than to be spoiled on the giddy heights 
of fortune — such was this great man — whether we 
regard him sustaining the whole weight of cam- 
paigns all but desperate, or gloriously terminating 
a just warfare by his resources and his courage — 
presiding over the jarring elements of his political 
council, alike deaf to the storms of all extremes — 
or directing the formation of a new government for 
a great people, the first time that so vast an experi- 
ment had ever been tried by man — or finally re- 
tiring from the supreme power to which his virtue 
had raised him over the nation he had created, and 
whose destinies he had guided as long as his aid 
was required — retiring with the veneration of all 
parties, of all nations, of all mankind, in order that 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 23 

the rights of men might be conserved, and that his 
example never might be appealed to by vulgar 
tyrants. This is the consummate glory of the great 
American; a triumphant warrior where the most 
sanguine had a right to despair; a successful ruler 
in all the difficulties of a course wholly untried ; but 
a warrior whose sword only left its sheath when the 
first law of our nature commanded it to be drawn; 
and a ruler who, having tasted of supreme power, 
gently and unostentatiously desired that the cup 
might pass from him, nor would suffer more to wet 
wet his lips than the most solemn and sacred duty 
to his country and his God required ! 

To his latest breath did this great patriot maintain 
the noble character of a captain, the patron of peace, 
and a statesman, the friend of justice. Dying, he 
bequeathed to his heirs the sword which he had 
worn in the war for liberty, charging them " never 
to take it from the scabbard but in self-defence or 
in defence of their country and her freedom ; and 
commanding them that when it should be thus 
drawn, they should never sheath it nor ever give it 
up, but prefer falling with it in their hands to the 
relinquishment thereof" — words, the majesty and 
simple eloquence of which are not surpassed in the 
oratory of Athens or Rome. It will be the duty of 
the historian and the sage in all ages to omit no 
occasion of commemorating this illustrious man; 
and until time shall be no more, will a test of the 
progress which our race has made in wisdom and 
in virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the 
immortal name of Washington. 



24 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



NOTES. 



Weight of officers of the revolutionary army, Aug. ]9, 1783 — weighed 
at the scales at West Point : 

11)9. 

Gen. Washiugtoji, 209 

" Lincoln, 224 

" Knox,* 280 

" Huntington 182 

" Greuton, 166 

Col. Swift, 219 

" Michael Jackson, 252 

" Harry Jackson, 2.38 

Lieut. Col. Huntington, 212 

" Cobb, 182 

« Humphrey, 221 

Average 214 lbs. — taken from a memorandum found in the late Gen. 
Swift's pocket book. 



The following are the compai-ative losses of the battles of the revolu- 
tion, arranged according to priority : 

British loss. American loss. 

Lexington, Ai)ril 19, 1775, 272 84 

Bunker Hill, June 17, " 1,054 453 

Flatbush, August 27, 1776, 400 200 

White Plains, " 29, " 400 400 

Trenton, Dec. 26, " 1,000 9 

Princeton, Jan. 3, 1777, 400 100 

Hubbardsto wn, August 7, 1777, 180 800 

Bennington, " 16, " 800 100 

Brandy wine, Sept. 11, " 500 1,200 

Stillwater, " 17, " 600 350 

Germantown, Oct. 4, " 600 1,200 

Saratoga, "17, " 5,722 sur. 

Red Hook, " 22, " 500 32 

Monmouth, June 25, 1778, 400 139 

Rhode Island, Aug. 27, " 260 211 

Briar Creek, March 30, 1779, 13 400 

Stony Point, July 15, " 600 100 

Camden, August 16, 1780, 375 610 

King's Mountain, Oct. 1, " 950 96 

Cowpens, January 17, " 800 72 

Guilford C. H., March 17, 1781, 52:3 400 

Hobkirk's Hill, April 25, " 400 400 

Eutaw Springs, September, " 1,000 550, 

Yorktown, October 19, " 7,072 sur. ^ 

Total, 24,853 9,698 

* Died in consequence of swallowing a small chicken bone. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 25 

The following extract of a letter from a traveller in Germany, to the 
New York Observer, shows that the errors respecting our great men are 
often ludicrous: 

" The oracle of a coffee house in Bacharach, who had served under 
Najjoleon from Moscow to Madrid, expatiated somewJiat in the following 
style. "The Americans were enslaved; Lafayette, whom I have myself 
seen, set them free. He was chosen their king, but bade them be a re- 
public." I eiKjuired if he ever heard of Washington, iiiid was answered 
in the negative by him and all his table companions. " But," continued 
he, " give me an hundred thousand Rhine soldiers, and in six weeks I 
will subdue all America. Indeed the Germans are alreadj^ predominant 
there, since one of the latest presidents, Van Bureu, was born in Ger- 
many." 

Such views of America, as the foregoing, are all that could be expected 
by one who considers the sources from wljich they are derived. Few 
American travelers, and almost as few American books, have made 
their way through Germany." 



The following interesting revolutionary relic, being a sermon, preached 
on the eve of the Battle of Brandy wine, Sept. 10, 1777, was furnished by 
A. H. Schcefmyer, Esq. He says : " Not long ago, searching into the papers 
of my grandfather. Major John Jacob Schcefinyer, who was out in the 
days of the revolution, I found the following discourse, delivered on the 
eve of the Battle of Brandy wine, by the Rev. Joab Trout, to a large por- 
tion of the American soldiers, in presence of Gen. Washington and Gen. 
Wayne, and other officers of the army. 

REVOLUTIONARY SERMON. 

" They that take the sword, shall perish by the sivord.''^ 

Soldiers and Countrymen: 

We have met this evening, perhaps for the last time. We have shared 
the toil of the march, the peril of the fight, and the dismay of the retreat 
alike ; Ave have endured the cold and hunger, the contumely of the in- 
fernal foe, and the courage of the foreign oppressor. We have sat, night 
after night, beside the camp fire ; we have together heard the roll of the 
reveille, which called us to duty, or the beat of the tatoo, which gave the 
signal for the hardy sleep of the soldier, with the earth for his bed, and 
his knapsack for his pillow. 

And now, soldiers and brethren, we have met in the peaceful valley 
on the eve of battle, while the sunlight is dying away beyond yonder 
heights, the sunlight that, to-morrow morn, will glinnner on scenes of 
blood. We have met amid the whitening tents of our encampment; in 
time of terror and of gloom, have we gathered together — God grant it 
may not be the last time. 

It is a solemn moment. Brethren, does not the solemn voice of nature 
seem to echo the sympathies of the hour? The flag of our countiy 
droops heavily from yonder staff, the breeze has died away along the 



26 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

green plain of Chadd's Ford — the plain that spreads before us, glitter- 
ing in the sunlight — the heights of the Brandyvvine arising gloomy and 
grand beyond the waters of yonder stream — all nature holds a pause of 
solemn silence, on the eve of the uproar of the bloodshed and strife of 
to-morrow. 

" They that lake the sword, shall perish by the sword." 

And have they not taken the sword ? 

Let tlie desolated i)lain, the blood-sodden valley, the burned farm- 
house, blackening in the sun, the sacked village, and the ravaged town, 
answer — let the wliitening bones of the butchered farmer, strewn along 
the fields of his homestead, answer — let the starving mother, with her 
babe clinging to the withered breast that can afford no sustenance, let 
her answer, with the death-rattle mingling with the nnirmuring tones 
that mark the last struggle of life — let the dying mother and her babe 
answei'. 

It was but a day past, and our land slept in the quiet of peace. War 
was not here — wrong was not here. Fraud and woe, and misery and 
•want, dwelt not among us. From the eternal solitude of the green 
woods, arose the blue sky of the settler's cabin, and golden fields of corn 
looked from amid the waste of the wilderness, and the glad music of 
human voices awoke the silence of the forest. 

Now, Gotl of mercy, behold the change. Under the shadow of a pre- 
text, under the sanctity of the name of God, invoking the Redeemer to 
their aid, does these foreign hirelings slay our peojjle ! They destroy our 
towns, they darken our plains, and now they encompass our posts on 
the plain of Chadd's Ford. 

" They that take the sword, shall perish by the sword." 

Brethren, think me not unworthy of belief when I tell you the doom 
of the British is near! Think me not vain when I tell you that beyond 
the cloud that now enshrouds us, I see gathering, thick and fast, the 
darker storm, and a blacker storm of a Divine indignation ! 

They may contjuer us to-morrow. Might and wrong may prevail, and 
we may be driven from this field — but the hour of God's own vengeance 
will come. 

Aye, if in the vast solitude of eternal space, if in the heart of the bound- 
less universe, there throbs the being of an awful God, quick to avenge, 
and sure to punisli guilt, then will the man George, of Brunswick, called 
king, feel in his brain and his heart, the vengeance of the eternal Jeho- 
vah! A blight will be upon his life — a withered brain, and accursed 
intellect; a blight will be upon his children and on his people. Great 
God how dread the punishment! 

A crowded populace peo})ling the dense towns where the man of 
money thrives, while the laborer starves; want a striding among the 
people in all its forms of terror; and ignorant and God-defying priest- 
hood chuckling over the miseries of millions; a proud and nterciless no- 
bility, adding wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upon robbery and 
fraud; royalty corrupt to the very heart, and aristocracy rotten to the 
veiy core; crime and want linked hand in hand, and tempting men to 
deeds of wo and death: these are a i)art of the doom and the retribution 
that came upon the English throne and the English people! 

Soldiers, 1 look around upon your familiar taces with a strange inte- 
rest! To-morrow morning we will all go forth to the battle — for need I 
tell you, that your unworthy minister will march with you, invoking 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 27 

God's aid in the fight — we will march forth to the battle ! Need I exhort 
you to fight the good fight, to fight fiar your homesteads, for your wives 
and children? 

My friends, I might in*ge you to fight by the galling memories of 
British wrong. Walton — I might tell you of your butchered father, in 
the silence of the night on the plains of Trenton; I might ring his death 
shriek into your ears. Shelmire — I might tell you of a butchered mother, 
and a sister outraged; the lonely farmhouse, the night assault, the roof 
in fiames, the shout of the troopers as they despatched their victims, the 
cries for mercy, the ])leadings of innocence tor pity. I might paint this 
all again, in vivid colors of the terrible reality if I thought your courage 
needed such wild excitement. 

But I know you are strong in the might of the Lord. You will march 
forth to battle on the morrow with light hearts and determined spirits, 
though the solemn duty — the duty of avenging the dead — may rest heavy 
on your souls. 

And in the hour of battle, when all aromid is darkness lit by the lurid 
cannon glare, and piercing musket flash, when the woimded strew the 
ground, and the dead litter your patii, then remember soldiers that God 
is with you. The eternal God fights for you — he rides on the battle 
cloud, he sweeps onward with the march or the hurricane charge — God, 
the awful and the infinite, fights for you and will triimii)h. 

" They that take the sword, shall perish by the sword." 

You have taken the sword, but not in the spirit of wrong and ravage. 
You have taken the sword for your homes, for your wives, for yom- little 
ones. You have taken the sword for truth, for justice and right, and to 
you the promise is — be of good cheer, for your foes have taken the 
sword in defiance of all that man liolds dear, in blasphenjy of God — 
they shall perish by the sword. 

And now, brethren and soldiers, I bid you all farewell. Many of us 
may fall in the battle of to-morrow. God rest the souls of the flillen — 
many of us may live to tell the story of the fight to-morrow, and in the 
memory of all who ever rest and linger the quiet scene of the autumnal 
night. 

Solemn twilight advances over the valley; the woods on the opposite 
heights fling their long shadows over the green of the meadows; around 
us are the tents of the continental host, the suppressed bustle of the camp, 
the hurried tramp of the soldiers to and fro among the tents, stillness 
and awe that marks the eve of battle. 

When we meet again, may the shadow of twilight be flung over a 
peaceful land. God in heaven grant it. 

PRATER FOR THE REVOLUTION. 

Great Father, we bow before thee; we invoke thy blessings; we depre- 
cate thy wrath; we return thee thanks for the [)ast; we ask thy aid for 
the future. For we are in times of trouble, oh Lord, and sore beset by 
foes, merciless and unpitying. The sword gleams over our land, and 
the dust of the soil is dampened with the blood of our neighbors and 
friends. 

Oh! God of mercy, we pray thy blessing on the American arms. 
Make tlie man of our hearts strong in thy wisdom ; bless, we beseech 
thee, with renewed life and strength, our hope, and thy instrument, even 
George Washington. Shower thy counsels on the honorable, the con- 
tinental congress; visit the tents of our host, comfort the soldier in his 



23 MARTHA WASHINGTON. 

wounds and afflictions, nerve him for the fight, prepare him for the hour 
of death. 

And in tlic liour of defeat, God of Hosts, do thou be our stay, and in 
the hour of triunipli be tliou our guide. 

Teacli us to be merciful. Though tlie memory of galling wrongs I)e 
at our liearts, knocking for admittance, that they may fill us with the 
desire of revenge, yet let us, oh Lord, spare the van(|uislied though 
they never s])ared us, in the hour of butchery, and bloodshed. And in 
the hour of death, do thou guide us to the abode ])repared for the blest; 
so shall we return thanks unto thee, thi-ough Christ our Redeemer — 
God prosper the cause. Ameu. 



< < « > > 



MARTHA WASHINGTON. ' 

It is not much the world can give, 

With all its subtle art. 
And gold and gems are not the things 

To satisfy the heart : 
But oh, if those who cluster round 

The altar and the hearth. 
Have gentle words and loving smiles, 

How beautiful is earth. 

HE maiden name of the wife of the illus- 
trious Washington Avas Martha Dandridge. 
,. .,^=^ She was born in New Kent Court, state of 
1^ Virginia, May, 1732. Of her early life, it is 
tfi recorded that " she excelled in personal charms, 
^ with pleasing manners, and a general amia- 
bility of demeanor." At the age of seventeen she 
married Colonel Daniel P. Custis of Arlington, a 
king's counsellor. The fruits of this marriage were 
a girl who died in infancy, and David, Martha and 
John. David was a child of much promise, but 
died an untimely death, which it is said hastened 
his father to the grave. Martha arrived at woman- 
hood, and died at Mount Vernon in 1770. John, 
the father of George W. P. Custis, Esq., of Arling- 




MARTHA WASHINGTON. 29 

ton, near Washington city, and from whose writings 
this sketch is condensed, died at the seige of York- 
town, in 1781, aged twenty-seven. 

On the death of her husband, Mrs. Curtis was left 
a very young and wealthy widow, having in addition 
to the large landed estates the colonel had left, 
three thousand pounds sterling in money, besides 
fifteen thousand pounds left to Martha, his only 
daughter. 

It was in 1750 that Washington, then a colonel, 
was introduced to the charming widow ; and being 
of an age when impressions are strongest, tradition 
says they were mutually pleased with each other. 
And Washington being first in affairs of the heart, 
as w"ell as in war, achieved a speedy marriage. The 
precise date of the marriage has not been ascer- 
tained, but it is believed it took place in 1759. 

When her husband was commander-in-chief, lady 
Washington accompanied him to the lines before 
Boston, and witnessed its seige and evacuation. 
She then returned to Virginia, the subsequent cam- 
paign being of too momentous a character to allow 
of her accompanying the army. At the close of 
each campaign an aidecamp repaired to Mount Ver- 
non to escort the lady to the head quarters. The 
arrival of Lady Washington at camp was an event 
much anticipated, and was the signal for the ladies 
of the several officers to repair to the bosoms of their 
lords. The arrival of the aidecamp, escorting the 
plain chariot, with the neat postillions in their scar- 
let and white liveries, was deemed an epoch in the 
army, and served to diffuse a cheering influence 
amid the gloom which hung over our destinies at 
Valley Forge, Morristown and West Point. She 
always remained at head quarters till the opening of 
the campaign, and it was her fortune to hear the 
first and last cannon of all the campaigns of the 
revolutionary war. 

Mrs. Washington was an uncommonly early 



30 MARTHA WASHINGTON. 

riser, leaving her pillow at clay dawn, at all seasons 
of the year. After breakfast she would daily retire 
to her chamber, where she spent an hour in prayer 
and reading the holy scriptures, a practice that she 
never omitted during the half century of her varied 
life. 

A little more than two years from the death of 
him who was called to his great reward in higher 
and better worlds, Mrs. Washington became alarm- 
ingly ill from an attack of bilious fever. Perfectly 
aware that her end was fast approaching, she as- 
sembled her grandchildren at her bedside, and dis- 
coursed to them on their respective duties through 
life. She spoke of the happy influences of religion 
on the afltiirs of this world, of the consolations they 
had afforded her in many and trying afflictions, and 
of the hopes they held out of a blessed immortality. 
Then, surrounded by her weeping relatives, friends 
and domestics, in the seventy-first year of her age, 
she resigned her life into the hands of Him who 
gave it. " She descended to the grave cheered by 
the prospect of a blessed immortality, and mourned 
by the millions of a mighty empire." 

Golden bang the branches above that sacred tomb, 
O'er the marble glances tiie rose's tint of bloom, 
Round tlie silent sepulchre the scarlet tendrils twine, 
Through the rainbow vistas the glassy waters shine. • 

In person Mrs. Washington was well-formed, 
and somewhat below the medium size, and when 
in the bloom of life was eminently handsome. In 
her dress, though plain, she was so scrupulously 
neat, that the ladies often wondered how she 
could wear a gown for a week, go through the 
kitchen and larder, and all the routine of domestic 
management, and yet the gown retain its snow-like 
whiteness, unsullied by even a speck. 




MARY WASHINGTON. 31 



MARY WASHINGTON. 

When those whom we prized have departed forever, 

Yet perfimie is shed o'er the cypress we twine ; 
Yet fond Recollection refnses to sever, 

And tnrns to the past Hke a saint to the shrine. 
Praise carved on the marble is often deceiving, 

The gaze of the stranger is all it may claim; 
But the strongest of love and the purest of grieving, 

And heard when lips dwell on the missing one's name, 
Saying, "Don't you remember?" 

N the velvet bank of a rivulet sat a rosy 
child. Her lap was filled with flowers, and 
a garland of rose-buds was twined around 
her neck. Her face was as radiant as the sun- 
shine that fell upon it; and her voice was as 
clear as that of the bird which warbled at her 
side. The little stream went singing- on, and with 
every gush of its music the child lifted the flowers 
in its dimpled hand, and, with a merry laugh, threw 
them upon its surface. In her glee she forgot that 
her treasures were growing less; and with the swift 
motion of childhood, she flung them upon the spark- 
ling tide, until every bud and blossom had disap- 
peared. Then, seeing her loss, she sprang upon her 
feet, and bursting into tears, called aloud to the 
stream, " Bring back my flowers !" But the stream 
danced along regardless of her tears: and as it bore 
the blooming burden away, her words came back 
in a taunting echo along its reedy margin. And, 
long after, amid the wailing of the breeze, and the 
fitful bursts of childish grief, was heard the fruitless 
cry, "Bring back my flowers!" Merry maiden! 
who art idly wasting the precious moments so boun- 
tifully bestowed upon thee, see in the thoughtless, 
impulsive child, an emblem of thyself With the 
mother of the immortal Washington look back 
upon each moment as a perfumed flower. Let its 
fragrance be dispensed in blessings on all around 



32 MARY WASHINGTON. 

thee and ascend as sweet incense to its beneficent 
giver. Else, when thon hast carelessly flung them 
from thee, and seest them receding on the swift 
waters of time, thou wilt cry, in tones more sorrow- 
ful than those of the child, " Bring back my flow- 
ers ! " And the only answer will be an echo from 
the shadowy past, " Bring back 7ny flowers''* 

It has been beautifully observed that Home is the 
true theatre of woman. This is her kingdom ; and 
here she may erect her throne, and sway her sceptre. 
For such a dominion Providence designed her, and 
for this the Creator has richly qualified her. And 
what a sphere of action is this ! How grand in it- 
self, and how imposing in view of its tendencies 
and results ! Home ! What associations gather 
around that word ! With what a power it thrills 
the soul! AVhat an impress it stamps on the intel- 
lectual and moral man ! It is unbounded in its 
influence on the social and civil institutions of man- 
kind. It takes hold of the deepest consequences, 
and leads to the sublimest results. Who rules here, 
presides over the fountains of thought and intelli- 
gence, and touches the springs which give motion 
to the world. Who controls the homes of mankind, 
fixes their destiny. Here woman wields a sway 
mightier than the sceptre of earth's lordliest despot. 
She implants the germ of those principles which 
are to give character to society, and to fix its insti- 
tutions. For the influences which are to perpetuate 
or to destroy our national blessings, we should look, 
not to virtue or corruption in high places, but to the 
elements which are developed in our homes. Our 
security is not to be found *in the efiiciency of our 
navies, nor in the impregnableness of our fortresses, 
nor in the valor and discipline of our armies: the sal- 
vation of this land is to be the result of the principles 
inculcated and fixed in its homes. Every home is 
a fortress ; and until these are subjected to ignorance, 

* Lowell Offering. 



MARY WASHINGTON. 33 

and lawlessness, and passion, there is safety; but 
when these seeds of anarchy and ruin are allowed 
to grow here, all is lost. Of all these interests — 
the interests which cluster around the home — wo- 
man is the appropriate guardian, and the only effi- 
cient conservator. 

Mary, the mother of the patriot, soldier and states- 
man, George Washington, was descended from the 
family of Ball, English colonists, who settled on the 
banks of the Potomac. 

Bred up in the domestic and independent habits 
which graced the Virginia ladies in those days, she 
became well fitted to perform the duties which were 
destined to devolve upon her. By the death of her 
husband, the cares of a young family became hers, 
at a period when the aid and control of the stronger 
sex are most needed. Thus was it left for this 
eminent woman, by an education and discipline the 
most peculiar and imposing, to instil into the mind 
of her son, those great and essential qualities, which 
formed a hero destined to be the ornament of the 
age in which he flourished, and the admiration of 
ages yet to come. 

At the time of his father's death, George Wash- 
ington was but twelve years of age. Of him he 
has been heard to say that he knew but little ; it 
was to his mother's fostering care, that he ascribed 
the origin of his fortune and his fame.^ 

In the home of Mrs. Washington the levity and 
indulgence common to youth were tempered by a 
well-regulated restraint, which, while it neither 
suppressed nor condemned any rational enjoyment 
usual in the spring-time of life, prescribed those 
enjoyments within the bounds of moderation and 
propriety. Thus was her son taught the duty of 
obedience, which prepared him to command. Nor 
did he ever fail in that duty ; but to the latest mo- 

* Ladies Garland. 



34 MARY WASHINGTON. 

ments of his venerable parent, yielded to her with 
the most dutiful and implicit obedience, and felt for 
her person and character the highest respect and 
most enthusiastic attachment. 

The late Lawrence Washington, Esq., of Cho- 
tank, one of the associates of the juvenile years of 
the chief, and remembered by him in his will, thus 
describes the home of his mother: " I was often 
there with George, his playmate, schoolmate and 
young man's companion. Of the mother I was ten 
times more afraid than I ever was of my own pa- 
rents; she awed me in the midst of her kindness, 
for she was indeed truly kind. And even now, 
when time has whitened my locks, and I am the 
grand-parent of a second generation, I could not 
behold that majestic woman without feelings which 
it is impossible to describe." 

Upon Washington's appointment to the command 
of the American armies, he removed his mother 
from her country residence to the village of Frede- 
ricksburg, a situation more remote from danger and 
nearer to her friends and relatives. There she re- 
mained during the period of the revolution, directly 
in the way of the news as it proceeded from north 
to south. Often would one courier bring intelli- 
gence of success to our armies, — another, " swiftly 
coursing at his heels," the saddening reverse of 
disaster and defeat. 

During the war, and indeed during the whole 
period of her useful life up to the advanced age of 
eighty-two, Mrs. Washington set a most valuable 
example in the management of her domestic con- 
cerns. In her household arrangements she was 
never actuated by that ambition for show which 
pervades weaker minds ; and the peculiar plainness 
and dignity of her manners became in no wise 
altered, when the sun of glory arose upon her 
house. Her industry and the well-regulated econo- 
my of all her concerns, enabled her to dispense 



MARY WASHINGTON. 35 

considerable charities to the poor, although her 
own circumstances were far from being affluent. 
Tliere, in a humble dwelling, lived this mother of 
the first of men, preserving unchanged her peculiar 
nobleness and independence of character. 

She was continually visited and solaced by her 
children, and numerous grand-children, particularly 
by her daughter Mrs. Lewis. To the repeated and 
earnest solicitations of this lady, that she would 
remove to her home, and pass the remainder of her 
days; to the pressing entreaties of her son that she 
would make Mount Vernon the home of her age, 
the matron replied, " I thank you for your afiection- 
ate and dutiful offers, but my wants are few in this 
world, and I feel perfectly competent to take care 
of myself" 

One weakness alone attached to this lofty-minded 
and intrepid woman, and that proceeded from a 
very affecting cause. She was afraid of lightning. 
In early life she had a female friend killed by her 
side, while sitting at table ; the knife and fork, in 
the hands of the unfortunate girl, were melted by 
the electric fluid. The matron never recovered 
from the fright and shock occasioned by this dis- 
tressing accident. On the approach of a thunder 
cloud she would retire to her chamber, and not leave 
it again till the storm had passed away. 

She was always pious, but in her latter days her 
devotions were performed in private. She was in 
the habit of repairing every day to a secluded spot, 
formed by rocks and trees near her dwelling, where, 
abstracted from the world and worldly things, she 
communed with her Creator in humiliation and 
prayer. 

At length, after an absence of nearly seven years, 
on the return of the combined armies from York- 
town, it was permitted to the mother again to see 
and embrace her illustrious son. And now mark 
the force of early education and habits. No pa- 



36 MARY WASHINGTON. 

geantry of war proclaimed his coming, no trumpets 
sounded, no banners waved. Alone and on foot, the 
marshal of France, fhe general in chief of the com- 
bined armies of France and America, the deliverer 
of his country, the hero of the age, repaired to pay 
his humble duty to her whom he venerated as the 
author of his being, the founder of his fortune and 
his fame. 

The lady was alone, her aged hands employed in 
the work of domestic industry, when the good news 
was announced, and it was further told that the vic- 
tor chief was in waiting at the threshhold. She wel- 
comed him with a warm embrace, and by the well- 
remembered and endearing name of his childhood; 
inquiring as to his health, she remarked the lines, 
which mighty cares and many trials had made on 
his manly countenance ; spoke much of old times 
and old friends, but of his glory — not one word ! 

Meantime, in the village of Fredericksburg, all 
was joy and revelry ; the town was crowded with 
the officers of the French and American armies, and 
with gentlemen from all the country around, who 
hastened to welcome the conquerors of Cornwallis. 
The citizens made arrangements for a splendid ball, 
to which the mother of Washington was specially 
invited. 

The foreign officers were anxious to see the 
mother of their hero. They had heard indistinct 
rumors respecting her remarkable life and character ; 
but forming their judgments from European exam- 
ples, they prepared to expect in the mother that 
glare and show, which would have been attached 
to the parents of the great in the old world. How 
were they surprised when the matron, leaning on 
the arm of her son, entered the room ! She was 
arrayed in the very plain, but becoming garb worn 
by the Virginia lady of the olden time. Her address, 
always dignified and imposing, was courteous 
though reserved. She received the complimentary 



MARY WASHINGTON. 37 

attentions which were profusely paid her without 
evincing the slightest elevation, and at an early 
hour, wishing the company much enjoyment of their 
pleasure, retired. 

The foreign officers were amazed to behold one 
whom so many causes contributed to elevate, pre- 
serving the even tenor of her life, while such a blaze 
of glory shone upon her name and oftspring. The 
European world furnished no examples of such 
magnanimity. Names of ancient lore were heard 
to escape from their lips, and they observed, that if 
such were the matrons of America, it was not won- 
derful that the sons were illustrious. 

The Marquis de Lafayette, previous to his depart- 
ure for Europe, repaired to Fredericksburg to pay 
her his parting respects, and to ask her blessing. As 
he approached the house, he beheld her working in 
the garden, clad in domestic-made clothes, and her 
gray head covered with a plain straw hat! She 
saluted him kindly, observing — "Oh, Marquis! you 
see an old woman — but come, I can make you 
welcome to my poor dwelling without the parade 
of changing my dress." 

In her person, Mrs. Washington was of the mid- 
dle size ; her features pleasing, yet strongly marked. 
In her latter days she spoke often of her own good 
hoy, of the merits of his early life, of his love and 
dutifulness to herself, but of the deliverer of his 
country, of the chief magistrate of the great repub- 
lic, she never spoke! Call you this insensibility? 
or want of ambition ? Oh, no! her ambition had 
been gratified to overflowing. She taught him to 
be good ; that he became great when the opportu- 
nity presented, was a consequence, not a cause. 

Thus lived and died that distinguished woman. 
Had she been a Roman dame, statues would have 
been erected to her memory in the capital, and we 
should have read in classic pages the story of her 
virtues. 



38 WILLIAM AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 

A splendid monnmeiat has recently been erected 
to her memory, at Fredericksburg, where her ashes 
repose. The ceremony of laying the corner stone 
was solemn and affecting. It was a late, but just 
tribute to her, who gave to our country its noblest 
son. For taste and elfect this monument is the 
finest specimen of art in the United States. It is 
forty-five feet from the base to the summit, mounted 
by a colossal bust of George Washington, and sur- 
mounted by the American Eagle, in the attitude of 
dropping a civic wreath upon the head of the hero. 
The inscription is simple and affecting: 

MARY, 

THE MOTHER OF 

WASHINGTON. 

When that sacred column shall, in after ages, be 
visited by the American pilgrim, let him recall the 
virtues of her who sleeps beneath. 




WILLIAM AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 

'E was a distinguished officer of the revolu- 
tion, a relative of George Washington, and 
a native of Virginia. He was one of the 
1® earliest to engage in the struggle for emancipa- 
^^^ tion from British tyranny. He served as a 
captain under Mercer, and afterwards fought at 
the battle of Long Island. He also distinguished 
himself at that of Trenfon, when he was severely 
wounded. His bravery was rewarded by his pro- 
motion to the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel. 
At the battle of Cowpens he commanded the caval- 
ry, and contributed much to the victory. As a token 
of their appreciation of his services, congress pre- 
sented him with a sword. 



WILLLIAM AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 39 

At the battle of Eufaw Springs he was again 
wounded, and also taken prisoner. This terminated 
his military" career. He was confined at Charles- 
ton, S. C, until the cessation of hostilities. 

While in captivity, and suffering from his wound, 
he became enamored, it is said, at X\\e first interview, 
with a beautiful Carolinian maiden, who inflicted 
a deeper wound upon his heart, and whom, on his 
liberation, he married. 

It has been eloquently said, "that there is no 
love but love at first sight. This is the transcendent 
and surpassing offspring of sheer and unpolluted 
sympathy. All other is the illegitimate result of ob- 
servation, of reflection, of compromise, of compari- 
son, of expediency. The passions that endure flash 
like the lightning; they scorch the soul, but it is 
warmed for ever. Miserable man, whose love rises 
by degrees upon the frigid morning of his mind ! 
And certain as the gradual rise of such affection is 
its gradual decline and melancholy set. Then, in 
the chill dim twilight of his soul, he execrates cus- 
tom, because he has madly expected that feelings 
could be habitual that were not homogeneous, and 
because he has been guided by the observation of 
sense, and not by the inspiration of sympathy." 

"Amid the gloom and travail of existence suddenly 
to behold a beautiful being, and as instantaneously, 
to feel an overwhelming conviction that with that 
fair form forever our destiny must be entwined; 
that there is no more joy but in her joy, no sorrow 
but when she grieves; that in her sight of love, in 
her smile of fondness, hereafter is all bliss; to feel 
our ambition fade away like a shriveled gourd be- 
fore her visions ; to feel fame a juggle, and posterity 
a lie ; and to be prepared at once for this great ob- 
ject, to forfeit and fling away all former hopes, ties, 
schemes, and views. This is a lover, and this is 
love." 



40 BUSHROD WASHINGTON. 

"A wif! ah Saint IMary, bcncdicte, 

How miffht a man liave any adversitie, 

That liath a wif! certes I cannot say; 

Tlie IjHssc tiie which that is betwix them twey, 

There may no tongue tell, or harte think. 

" O blissful ordre, O wedlock precious, 
Thou art so merry, and eke so virtuous. 
And so commended and ai)i)roved eke, 
That every man that holds him worth a leke, 
Upon his bare knees ought all his lif 
Thanken his God that hath sent him a wif 
Or elles pray to God him for to send 
A wif, to last until his lives end." 

Having settled in South Carolina, Col. Washing- 
ton served in the legislature of that state. The 
great talents he displayed in that body, induced his 
friends to solicit him to become a candidate for the 
office of governor; but his modesty would not per- 
mit him. 

Honored by all who knew him, he entered upon 
his immortal stage of existence in 1810. 



4 m » » t 




BUSHROD WASHINGTON, 

jN eminent judge, the favorite nephew of 
General Washington, was born in West- 
moreland county, in the state of Virginia. 
'^^ Having graduated with honor at William and 
Mary College, he studied law in the office of 
Mr. Williams, of Philadelphia. He then com- 
menced practice with great success, in his native 
place. 

In 1781 he was elected a member of the Virginia 
house of delegates. He subsequently removed to 
Alexandria, D. C, and thence to llichmond, where 
he published his two volumes of the Decisions of the 
Supreme Court of Virginia. In 1798 he was ap- 
pointed an associate justice of the supreme court 
of the United States, which situation he held until 
his decease in 1829. 



BUSHROD WASHINGTON. 41 

Judge Washington was a man of " sound judg- 
ment, rigid integrity, and unpretending manners." 
He possessed, in an eminent degree, that charity 
towards erring humanity, so happily set forth in 
the language of a modern writer: "When I take 
the history of one poor heart that has sinned and 
suffered, and represent to myself the struggles and 
temptations it passed through; the brief pulsations 
of joy; the tears of regret; the feebleness of purpose; 
the pressure of want ; the desertion of friends; the 
scorn of the world that has little charity ; the deso- 
lation of the soul's sanctuary, and threatening voices 
within ; health gone ; I would fain leave the erring 
soul of my fellow man with him. from whose hands 
he came." Hospitable in the extreme, he was a 
fine specimen of a Virginia gentleman."^ 

* Macauley in his History of Enjiland, gives a vivid description of 
the fine old English gentleman ; and it is copied for the purpose of con- 
trasting it with the " fine old Virginia gentleman." 

The country 'squire is sketched a beer-drinking, beef-eating sensualist; 
coarse, vulgar, uneducated, and full of self-conceit; while his wife and 
daughters were little, if any, above the grade of cooks and chambermaids 
of the present day. In fact, those useful members of society, cooks and 
chambermaids, might blush at the comparison here made. The treat- 
ment that ecclesiastics received from these " fine old English gentlemen," 
is a fair test of their character. Macauley says: 

" The coarse and ignorant 'squire, who thought that it belonged to his 
dignity to have grace said every day at his table, by an ecclesiastic in full 
canonicals, found means to reconcile dignity with economy. A young 
Levite — such was the phrase then in use — might be had for his board, a 
small garret, and ten pounds a year, and niiglit not only perform his own 
professional functions, might not only be the most patient of butts and lis- 
teners, might not only be always ready in fine weather ibr bowls, and in 
rainy weather for shovelboard, but might also save the expense of a gar- 
dener, or a groom. Sometimes the reverend man nailed up the aj)ricots, 
and sometimes he curried the coach-horses. He cast uj) the farrier's bills. 
He walked ten miles with a message or a parcel. If he was permitted 
to dine with the family, he was expected to content himself with the 
plainest fare. He might fill himself with the corned beef and carrots; 
but, as soon as the tarts and cheesecakes made their ap[)earance, he 
arose and stepped aside until wanted, to return tljanks for a meal of 
which he had enjoyed only a small portion!" 

This is only one phase of the degradation of ecclesiastics in those good 
old times. If a country clergyman was so weak as to think of marriage 
he never aspired above a cook, unless he were willing to accept the hand 
of some lady's maid, who, from improprieties of life, was not considered 
a pi'oper match for the butler ! 

6 



42 



SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

And the tyrant laughed, ha ! ha . 

As he sat on his blood-red throne; 
And the wail of a million souls in pain, 
From the sting of the gyve and the rusting chain, 

Rolled up in a thunder-tone. 

And the tyrant laughed, ha ! ha ! 

At that echo of thunder-tone; 
But his soul was in terror, for well he knew 
In spite of the cries of his hell-hound crew, 

There was fire underneath his throne. 

And the tyrant laughed, ha! ha! 

And his red-iron heel went down; 
But the million souls which it trampled upon. 
Like a million fen-fires united in one. 

Flamed up to that tyrant's crown. 

And the tyrant laughed, ha! ha! 

'Twas a terrible laugh laughed he ; 
'Twas a mad laugh that rose, as he writhed in pain, 
O'er the wreck of his throne, and the gyve, and the chain, 

For the millions he trampled were free ! 

Stuart. 

^ N Mr. Webster's great Bunker Hill oration, 
the following pregnant passage is worthy to 
be written in the records of every American 
family : 

" It has been said with very much veracity, 
that the felicity of the American colonists con- 
sisted in their escape from the past. This is true, 
so far as respects political embellishments, but no 
further. They brought with them a full portion of 
all the riches of the past, in science, in art, in mo- 
rals, religion and literature. The Bible came with 
THEM. And it is not to be doubted, that to the 

FREE AND UNIVERSAL READING OF THE BiBLE, IS TO BE 
ASCRIBED IN THAT AGE, THAT MEN WERE MUCH INDEBTED 
FOR RIGHT VIEWS OF CIVIL LIBERTY. ThE BiBLE IS A BOOK 
OF FAITH, AND BOOK OF DOCTRINE; BUT IT TEACHES MAN 




SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 43 

HIS OWN INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY, HIS OWN DIGNITY AND 
HIS EQUALITY WITH HIS FELLOW MEN. 

Congress was assembled at Independence Hall, 
at Philadelphia, on the fourth of July, 1776, when 
the declaration was adopted. 

Connected with that event, the following touch- 
ing incident is related : 

" On the morning of the day of its adoption, the 
venerable bell-man ascended to the steeple, and a 
little boy was placed at the door of the Hall to give 
him notice when the vote should be concluded. 
The old man waited long at his post, saying, "They 
will never do it, they will never do it." Suddenly 
a loud sliout came up from below, and there stood 
the blue-eyed boy, clapping his hands, and shouting, 
"Ring! Ring!!" Grasping the iron tongue of the 
bell, backward and forward he hurled it a hundred 
times, proclaiming — 

"liberty TO THE LAND AND TO THE INHABITANTS 

THEREOF !" 

The document was signed on the same day by 
John Hancock, the president of congress, and with 
his name alone went forth to the world. After its 
engrossment upon parchment, fifty-four delegates 
signed it on the second of August following, and 
two absentees signed it subsequently, making the 
whole number of signers fifty-six. 

The declaration was received by the people with 
the most extravagant enthusiasm. Processions 
were formed, bells were rung, and the booming of 
artillery echoed along the rivers, and from lake to 
lake, until it was lost in the eternal thunders of 
Niagara ! 

Hills flung the ci-y to hills around, 

And ocean mart replied to mart, 
And streams, whose springs were yet unfound, 
Pealed far away the startling sound 

Into the forest's heart. 



44 SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Then marched the brave from rocky steep, 

From mountain rivers swift and cold; 
Tlie borders of the stormj' deep, 
The vales where gathered waters sleep, 

Sent up the strong and bold. 

As if the very earth again 
Grew quick with God's creating breath. 

And from the 6ods of grove and glen, 

Rose ranks of lion-hearted men 

To battle to the death. Bi-yant. 

North Carolina has long claimed the honor of 
having issued the first declaration of independence, 
more than a year previous to the appearance of 
the famous instrument drawn up by Jefferson, 
and adopted July 4th, 1776. It was claimed that 
this first declaration was issued by a meeting held 
in Charlotte town, Mecklenburg county, N. C, in 
May, 1775. It first became notorious in 1819, 
through a copy published in the Raleigh Register. 
This copy, however, Mr. Jefierson declared spurious, 
and never until lately has it been proved authentic. 

But a few months since, a letter from Mr. Ban- 
croft, our minister to England, was read in the 
North Carolina legislature, which clears up all 
doubt. Mr. Bancroft has discovered in the British 
State Paper Ofhce, a copy of the resolves of the 
committee of Mecklenburg, which Avas sent over to 
England, in June, 1775, by Sir James Wright, then 
governor of Georgia. The accompanying letter of 
governor Wright, closes as follows: 

" By the enclosed paper, your lordship will see 
the extraordinary resolves of the people of Char- 
lotte town, in Mecklenburg county, and I should 
not be surprised if the same should be done every- 
where else." 

Mr. Bancroft says that the copy of the declaration 
is identically the same with that published in the 
North Carolina paper. 

The clause of the declaration of 1776, charging the 
king with having " urged a cruel war against human 
nature itself," was not, as has been alledged, stricken 



SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 45 

out from a regard to the feeling^s of slave holders, 
but from a sense of justice, as the slave trade was 
begun and carried on long before George the Third. 

"By the treaty of Utreclit, in 1711, the British government secured the 
right to bring into the West Indies, belonging to his Catholic majesty, in 
the space of thirty years, one hundred and forty-four thousand negroes, 
at the rate of four thousand eight hundred in each of the said thirty 
years." And the queen, in lier speech before parhament, on the Gth of 
June, 1712, in terms of satisfaction, states that "the part which we have 
borne in tlie prosecution of the war, entitling us to some distinction in 
the terms of peace, I have insisted and obtained that tJie assiento or con- 
tract for furnishing the Spanish West Indies with negroes, shall be made 
with us for the term of thirty years." And in this new article of com- 
merce, all persons of other nations were strictly forbidden to engage. It 
was reserved for the exclusive benefit of England, and so profitable was 
the trade deemed, that the sovereign of Great Britain condescended to 
become, in her own [lerson, the chief slave ti-afier of the world. Of a 
company formed to supply the colonies of America with slaves. Queen 
Anne subscribed for one-quarter of the stock, as well to reap the profits 
from the adventure, as to encourage her subjects to embark in the enter- 
prise. 

Nor was her example without its desired effect upon the loyal hearts 
of her subjects. They eagerly embarked in a traffic which promised, 
under the kind influence of royalty, to produce enoimous gains. The 
plantations of America, from the St. Lawrence to Georgia, became stocked 
with negroes, in spite of remonstrances from the colonists. Maryland, 
Virginia, and Carolina, in vain endeavored by laws, by remonstrances 
and protests, to stop the horrible trafiic in human flesh. It was too pro- 
fitable for the British cupidity to forego. "English ships, fitted out in 
English cities, under the special favor of the royal family, of the ministry, 
and of parlianjent, stole from Africa in the years from 1700 to 1750, pro- 
bably a million and a half of souls," and it is estimated that the returns 
to English merchants for their trade in human blood,, was not far from 
four hundred millions of dollars. 

To enlarge this enormous trade, the ingenuity of parliament was con- 
stantly taxed by the British people. They might differ fiercely on the 
various questions of the day, for it was a time of great political excite- 
ment — more than a moiety were touched in their consciences lest they 
excluded the rightful possessor of the throne — it was the boasted Au- 
gustan Age of Britain, and the pages of her poets and moralists were 
filled with exquisite delineations of virtue and goodness — her Christian 
philanthropy was marked by the establishment of missions for the pro- 
mulgation of the gospel — her venerable bishops were sedulously and 
anxiously engaged in assuring the colonists that negroes had souls, and 
ought to be baptized, yet all, with one consent, were clamorous lor the 
further extension of the slave trade. 

The trade had been restricted by royal gi-ants to favored corporations. 
The sagacity of the English merchants taught them that monopolies 
were prejudicial to commerce, and they maintained that if the trade were 
thrown open, a healthful competition would reduce the price of negroes, 
and ensure an abundant supply. The justice of these representations, 
seconded by the voice of the people, could not be resisted by an impar- 
tial legislature, ever mindful of the interests of those it i-epresented. Ac- 



46 SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

cordingly, in 1750, parliament passed a law, laying the slave trade free 
and opiMi to all her majesty's subjects. Under this act, the first essay of 
the i5ritish government in free trade, removing all impediments and 
restrictions, vessels were fitted out at every port to embark in the gainful 
traffic. Thus the parliament of England, by the enactment of laws, her 
ministers of state, by instructions and by treaties, her judges, by their 
expositions from the bench, and the sovereign, by commendation from 
the throne, swelled the horrid trade in human flesh, until it became the 
chief item in our foreign commerce. An obscure hamlet on the banks of 
the Mersey, the abode of a few fishermen, was made the depot of the 
trade. It has risen from the gains of slave-stealing to the rank of the 
first cities of Europe, and now stands in all its pride and wealth a monu- 
ment of prosperous crime. 

At the declaration of independence, slavery, through the agency of Great 
Britain, prevailed in all the colonies. There was a sentiment of deep 
regret among the inhabitants of the northern and some of the southern 
provinces, that it existed, and efforts were made in the convention of 
1787, to provide for its extinction. But it was maintained by the dele- 
gates from the south, that the municipal regulations of the states in re- 
gard to slavery were not proper subjects for the legislative action of the 
general government. The northern members reluctantly consented to 
the adoption of these views, and only from the conviction that no union 
among the states could be formed without this compromise of opinion. 
— Bowtii's report to the jV. Y. Assembly, February 20, 1849. 



The following is an extract of a letter from John 
Adams, alluding to the jfirst prayer in congress; 

Here was a scene worthy of a painter's art. It was in Carpenters' 
Hall, in Philadelphia, a building which still survives, that the devoted in- 
diviihials met to whom this service was read. 

Wasliington was kneeling there, and Henry, and Randolph, and Rut- 
lege, and Lee, and Jay, and by their side there stood, bowed in reverence, 
the puritan jiatriots of New England, who at that moment had reason 
to believe that an armed soldiery were wasting their humble households. 
It was believed that Boston had been bombarded and destroyed. They 
prayed fervently for " America, for the congress, for the province of 
Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town of Boston; and who cau 
realize the emotions with which they turned imploringly to heaven for 
divine interposition and aid? "It was enough" to melt a heart of stone. 
I saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old, gi"ave, pacific Quakers of 
Philadelphia." 



JOHN ADAMS. 47 





Lives of great men all remind us, 

We can make our lives sublime; 
And departing leave behind us, 

Footsteps on the sands of Time. 

OME one has truly observed that we are far 
more sensitive to the influences of each 
other, than the most delicate plant or flower 
^^ is to the influences of the soil and climate. 
The very presence of an evil spirit among us 
deeply affects us. Such a person may neither 
say or do any evil thing, and yet he will insensibly 
lower the tone of our spirits, just as a snowbank or 
iceberg affects all the atmosphere about it. We are 
sometimes introduced to persons, perfect strangers, 
who immediately make us feel that good is passing 
out of us to restore a kind of spiritual equilibrium 
which their presence has disturbed. We can not 
account for it ; but we know it to be so. It is a 
fact of our consciousness. 

On the other hand, there are persons who always 
seem to create or carry about with them, a heavenly 
or spiritual atmosphere. As soon as we come within 



48 JOHN ADAMS. 

the circle of their influence, though they say not a 
word to us, and we know nothing of their history, we 
feel stronger and better; we feel a self-devotion, a 
spiritual aspiration, that is not familiar to us. Their 
very presence is a benediction. Heaven seems 
nearer and more attainable to us than ever before. 

Of the latter class was the illustrious patriot John 
Adams. He was a direct lineal descendant in the 
fourth generation from Henry Adams, who fled 
from the persecution in England, during the reign 
of Charles the First. He was born at Braintree, now 
Quincy, Massachusetts, October oOth, 1735. His 
paternal ancestor was a passenger in the May- 
flower. He graduated at Harvard University in his 
twentieth year; after which, chosing the law as a 
profession, he entered the office of an eminent ad- 
vocate in Worcester, named Putnam. He was 
called to the bar in 1758, and admitted as a barrister 
in 1761. In 1765, during the excitement relative to 
the stamp act, he wrote and published his Essay 
on the Canon and Feudal Law. This production 
at once elevated him in the popular esteem. The 
same year he was associated with James Otis and 
others, to demand, in the presence of the royal 
governor, that the courts should dispense with the 
stamped paper in the administration of justice. 

In 1766, having married Abigail Smith, the daugh- 
ter of a pious clergyman of Braintree, Mr. Adams 
removed to Boston. There he zealously united with 
Hancock, Otis, and others, in various measures for 
the advancement of the liberty of the people. He 
was also very energetic in his endeavors to have the 
military removed from the town. The governor, 
Bernard, misjudging the noble soul of the patriot, 
endeavored to bribe him to silence, but his offers 
were rejected with disdain. 

In 1770, he was chosen a representative in the pro- 
vincial assembly. He was subsequently elected to 
a seat in the executive council, but having become 



JOHN ADAMS. 49 

obnoxious to both governors, Bernard and Hutchin- 
son, the latter erased his name. Being- again elected 
when Governor Gage was in power, he too erased 
his name. But these acts only served to increase 
the popularity of Mr. Adams. The assembly at 
Salem having adopted a resolution for a general 
congress, notwithstanding the eftbrts of Gage to 
prevent it, Mr. Adams was appointed one of the 
live delegates, and took his seat in the first conti- 
nental congress, convened in Philadelphia, vSeptem- 
ber 5, 1774. The following year he was reelected, 
and it was through his influence that George Wash- 
ington was elected commander-in-chief of the 
colonial forces. 

It Avas on the 6th of May, 1776, that Mr. Adams 
introduced a motion in congress, " that the colonies 
should form governments independent of the crown." 
This was equivalent to a declaration of independ- 
ence; and when a few weeks afterward Richard 
Henry Lee introduced a more explicit motion, Mr. 
Adams was one of its warmest supporters. He was 
appointed one of a committee, consisting of himself, 
Franklin, Jefferson, Sherman and Livingston, to 
draft the Declaration of Independence, and his signa- 
ture was placed to that document in August, 1776. 

After the battle of Long Island, in conjunction with 
Dr. Franklin and Edward Butledge, he was ap- 
pointed by congress to meet Lord Howe in confer- 
ence upon Staten Island concerning the pacification 
of the colonies. But, as he had predicted, the 
mission failed. The next year Mr. Adams was 
appointed a special commissioner to the court of 
France, whither Dr. Franklin had previously gone. 
Returning in 1779, he was called to the duty of 
forming a constitution for his native state; but con- 
gress appointing him a minister to Great Britain to 
negotiate a treaty of peace and commerce with 
that government, he left Boston in October, 1779, 
and arrived at Paris, by the way of Spain, in Feb- 

7 



50 JOHN ADAMS. 

ruary, 1780. Having found England indisposed for 
peace, if independence was to be the indispensa- 
ble condition, he was about to return, when he re- 
ceived the appointment by congress of commissioner 
to Holland, to negotiate a treaty of amity and com- 
merce with the states general. 

In 1781 he was associated with Franklin, Jay 
and Laurens, to conclude treaties of peace with the 
European powers. The following year, he assisted 
in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Brit- 
ain. In 1784, Mr. Adams returned to Paris, and in 
January, 1785, he was appointed minister for the 
United States at the court of Great Britain. 

The following is an extract of a letter to Mr. Jay, 
in which Mr. Adams describes his first interview with 
the king. Having been introduced to his majesty 
by the marquis of Carmarthen, he says : 

" I went with his lordship through the levee-room into the king's closet ; 
the door was shut, and I was left with liis majesty and the secretary of 
state alone. I made the three reverences — one at the door, another 
about half way, and the third before the presence — according to the 
usage established at this and all the northern courts of Europe, and then 
addressed myself to his majesty in the following words: 

" ' Sir, the United States have appointed me their minister plenipoten- 
tiary to your majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your majesty this 
letter, wiiich contains the evidence of it. It is in obedience to their ex- 
press cormnands, that I have the honor to assure your majesty of their 
unanimous disposition and desire to cultivate the most friendly and libe- 
ral intercourse between your majesty's sid>jects and tlieir citizens, and of 
their best wishes for your majesty's health and happiness, and for that 
of your royal family. The appointment of a minister from the United 
States to your majesty's court will form an epoch in the history of Eng- 
land and America. I think myself more fortunate than all my fellow- 
citizens, in having the distinguished honor to be the first to stand in your 
majesty's royal presence in a diplomatic character; audi shall esteem 
myself the happiest of men, if I can be instrumental i)i recommending 
my country more and more to your majesty's royal benevolence, and of 
restoring an entire esteem, confidence, and affection, or, in better words, 
" the old good-nature, and the old good-humor," between jieople who, 
though separated by an ocean, and under different governments, have 
the same language, a similar religion, iind kindred blood. I beg your 
majesty's pennission to add, that although I have sometimes before been 
intrusted by my countiy, it was never, in my whole life, in a manner so 
agreeable to mvself.' 

The king listened to every word I said, with dignity, it is true, but 
with an apparent emotion. Whether it was the nature of the interview, 
or whether it was my visible agitation, for I felt more than I could ex- 



JOHN ADAMS. 51 

press, that touched him, I can not say, but he was much affected, and 
answered me with more tremor than I had spoken with, and said: 

" ' Sir, the circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary, the 
language you have now held is so extremely proper, and the feelings you 
have discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I must say that I 
not only receive with pleasure the assurances of" the friendly disposition 
of the people of the United States, but that lam very glad the choice has 
fallen upon you to be their minister. I wish you, sir, to believe, and that 
it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the late 
contest but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do, by the dutj 
which I owed to my people. I will be very frank with you. 1 was the 
last to conform to the separation ; but the separation having been made, 
and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I 
would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an in- 
dependent i)ower. The moment I see such sentiments and language as 
yours prevail, and a disposition to give tliis countiy the preference, that 
moment I shall say, Let the circumstances of language, religion, and 
blood, have their natural and full effect.' " 

Having occupied this honorable post until 1788, 
at his own solicitation he was recalled. 

The federal constitution having been adopted 
during his absence, it received his most cordial ap- 
proval. Having for two successive terms been 
elected vice-president, in 1796 he was chosen to 
succeed Washington in the presidential chair. On 
the 4th of March, 1801, his administration closed, 
when he retired from public life. 

In 1818 he lost his estimable wife, with whom 
he had lived for more than half a century in unin- 
terrupted conjugal felicity. In 1825, the aged patri- 
arch had the pleasure of seeing his son an occupant 
of the presidential chair. In the spring of the fol- 
lowing year, his strength rapidly failed; and on the 
morning of the 4th of July, it became evident that 
he could not survive many hours. On being asked 
for a toast for the day, the last words he ever uttered 
were, "Independence forever!" He then expired, 
in the 92d year of his age. 

On the very same day, and at nearly the same 
hour, his fellow committeeman in drawing up the 
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 
also expired. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the 
glorious act, and the wonderful coincidence made 
a deep impression upon the public mind. 



52 



SAMUEL ADAMS. 





t/dL m/'^^^^^^^'^ 



*AS a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He 
was born September 22, 1722. Of pilgrim 
ancestry, he was early inspired with the 
'^ principles of freedom. His father, who was 
^4^ very wealthy, and who for many years was a 
member of the Massachusetts assembly, gave him 
a liberal education. He graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege, Cambridge, in 1740, at the age of 18. After 
serving an apprenticeship to Thomas Cushing, a 
distinguished merchant of Boston, he was furnished 
with means by his father to commence business 
himself But having a strong dislike to the profes- 
sion, the bias of his mind being inclined towards 
politics, he soon became almost insolvent. 

At the age of twenty- five he lost his father, when 
as the eldest son, the cares of the family and estate 
devolved upon him. He spent notwithstanding 
much time in writing against the oppression of the 
mother country. In 1773 he boldly denied the 
supremacy of parliament and suggested a union of 



SAMUEL ADAMS. 53 

all the colonies for self-defence. In 1765 he was 
elected to the general assembly, where he became 
a leader of the opposition to the royal governor. 
He was the originator of the Massachusetts Calen- 
dar, which proposed a colonial congress to be held 
in New York, and which was held there in 1766. 

Mr. Adams was among those who secretly ma- 
tured the plan of proposing a general congress. He 
was one of the five delegates appointed, and took 
his seat September 5th, 1774. He continued an 
active member of congress until 1781, and when 
his name was affixed to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

Returning from congress, after holding other offi- 
ces, he was elected governor of his state. To that 
honorable post he was reelected for many successive 
years. He died October 3, 1803, aged eighty-two. 



It is said of Mr, Adams that he read the Bible more than any other 
hook in ills library. " How comes it that that little volume, composed by 
humble men in a rude age when art and science were hut in their chiidliood, 
has exerted more influence on the human mind and on tlie social sys- 
tem, than all other books put together? Whence comes it that this book 
has achieved such marvelous changes in the opinions of mankind — haa 
banished idol worship — has abolished infanticide — has put down polyga- 
my and divorce— exalted the condition of woirian — raised the standard 
of public morality — created for families that blessed thing, a Christian 
home — and causes its other trium])hs by causing benevolent institutions, 
open and expansive, to spring up with the wand of enchantment ? What 
sort of a book is this, that even the wind and waves of himian passions 
obey it? What other engine of social improvement has operated so long, 
and yet lost none of its virtue? Since it ajjpeared, many boasted plans 
of amelioration have been tried and failed, many codes of jurisprudence 
have arisen, run their course, and expired. Empire after empire has 
been launched on tbe tide of time, and gone down, leaving no trace on 
the waters. But this book is still going about doing good — leading soci- 
ety with its holy principles — cheering the sorrowful with its consolation 
— strengthening the tempted — encouraging the penitent — calming the 
troubled spirit — and smoothing the f)illow of death. Can such a hook be 
the offspring of human genius? Does not the vastness of its eiTects de- 
monstrate the excellence of the power to be of God!" 



54 



JOSIAH BARTLETT. 






ESCENDED of Norman ancestry, was born 
I at Aniesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 
1729. About the year 1697, a branch of 
the family, which was then resident in England, 
j emigrated to America, and settled in Amesbury. 
The maiden name of his mother was Webster. 
After acquiring some knowledge of Greek and Latin, 
at the age of sixteen he conniienced the study of 
medicine. He afterwards commenced practice at 
Kingston, New Hampshire, where he amassed a 
competency. In 1776, after holding other offices, 
he was appointed a member of the committee of 
safety of his state. The appointment of this com- 
mittee alarmed Wentworth, the governor, who im- 
mediately dissolved the assembly. With Dr. Bart- 
lett at their head, however, they reassembled in 
spite of the governor. Being soon afterwards 
elected a member of the continental congress, the 
governor struck his name from the magistracy list, 
and deprived him of the command of a regiment 



JOSIAH BARTLETT. 55 

which he had previously held. The governor, 
alarmed for his own safety, left the province, when 
the provincial congress reappointed Dr. Bartlett 
colonel of militia. Having been twice reelected to 
the continental congress, he warmly supported the 
proposition for independence, and was the first who 
signed the declaration. In 1779 he was appointed 
chief justice of the court of common pleas of New 
Hampshire, and subsequently to the bench of the 
supreme court. After serving as president of New 
Hampshire, in 1793, he was elected the first governor 
of that state, under the federal constitution. He 
died on the 19th of May, 1795, in the 66th year of 
his age. 

Doctor Bartlett was eminently blessed in his do- 
mestic relations, and in an affectionate wife and 
children found a happy relief from harrassing public 
duties. How often in the mad pursuit of ambition 
are " these flowers by the way side" trampled upon 
and unheeded? How beautifully has Jean Paul 
said : 

Some there are who pass all these thins^s, seeking their joy in cells of 
sordid care; and yet it should seem as if the presence of the latter alone 
should fill the soul with music. Bright eyes, red cheeks, and sweet young 
countenances, ap])ealing in love, in merriment, in confidence — it is not in 
nature to I'esist the charm. Were I only for a time almighty and powerful 
I would create a little world especially for myself, and suspend it under 
the mildest sun — a world where I would have nothing hut lovely little 
children ; and these little things I would never suffer to grow up, but 
only to play eternally. If a seraph were weary of heaven, or his golden 
pinions drooped, I would send him to dwell for a while in my happy in- 
fant world, and no angel, so long as he saw their innocence, could lose 
his own. 

Come foiled Ambition! what hast thou desired? 

Empire and power? O! wanderer, tempest-tossed, 
These once were thine, when life's gay spring inspired 
Thy soul with glories lost! 

From these thy clasp falls palsied! It was then 

That thou wert rich ; thy coffers are a lie ! 
Alas, poor fool ! joy is the wealth of men, 
And care their poverty ! 



56 



CARTER BRAXTON. 




^ayU^-r^ ^^O^t^^^^ ^ 




'AUTER Braxton was born at Newmgton, 
Virginia, Sept. 10, 1736. After graduating 
at William and Mary College, the subject 
fof this memoir, at the age of sixteen, married 
Miss Judith Robinson, of Middlesex county. 
His fortune was thereby greatly augmented. 
His wife died, however, at the birth of his second 
child, after which Mr. Braxton married the daughter 
of Mr. Corbin ; the royal receiver-general of the 
customs in Virginia. By his second wife he had 
sixteen children. In 1765 he was elected to the 
house of burgesses. He was also a member of the 
Virginia convention in 1769. In December, 1775, 
he was elected a delegate to the continental con- 
gress to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of 
Peyton Randolph. He took an active part in favor 
of independence, and voted for and signed the de- 
claration. The following year he returned from 
congress, and resumed his seat in the Virginia legis- 
lature. He was afterwards appointed a member of 
the council of the state. He died of paralysis on 
the 10th of October, 1797, in the sixty-fourth year 
of his age. His death was widely lamented. 



CHARLES CARROLL. 



57 




^W£^ 'j^^r^^^^T^^I'^viirt:^ 






a/i' 



/) B 






CARROLL was of Irish extraction. His 
grandfather, Daniel Carroll, emi<?rated to 



Maryland about 1699, and under the patron- 
age of Lord Baltimore, became the possessor of 
W^ a large plantation. His son Charles, the father 
of the subject of our sketch, was born in 1702, 
and died at the age of eighty-eight, Avhen he left 
his large estate to his eldest son, Charles, then 
twenty-four years of age. The latter was born on 
the 20th September, 1737. Having received a tho- 
rough education abroad, he returned to Maryland 
in 1765, a finished scholar and a well-bred gentle- 
man. Espousing the cause of the patriots, he very 
soon became distinguished as a political writer. 
He was appointed a member of the first committee 
of safety of Maryland, and in 1775 was elected to 
the provincial assembly. In 1776 he was elected 
to the continental congress. He arrived too late to 

8 



58 CHARLES CARROLL. 

vote for the Declaration of Independence, but in 
ample time to append his name to that document. 
He continued a member of congress until 1788, 
when he devoted himself exclusively to the interests 
of his native state. Honored and revered by all, he 
died at Baltimore, November 14th, 1832, in the 
ninety-sixth year of his age. He Avas the last sur- 
vivor of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. 

For a long term of years, says Lossing, Mr. Car- 
roll was regarded by the people of this country with 
the greatest veneration; for when Adams and Jef- 
ferson died, he was the last vestige that remained 
on earth of the holy brotherhood who stood sponsor 
at the baptism in blood of an infant republic. 

The inquiry no doubt frequently recurs, why Mr. 
Carroll appended to his signature the place of his 
residence, Carrollton. It is said that when he wrote 
his name, a delegate near him suggested, that as 
he had a cousin of the name of Charles Carroll, in 
Maryland, the latter might be taken for him, and 
he, the signer, escape attainder, or any other pun- 
ishment that might fall upon the heads of the 
patriots. Mr. Carroll immediately seized the pen, 
and wrote, of Carrollton, at the end of his name, 
remarking, "They can not mistake me now!" 



SAMUEL CHASE, 



59 





^RACTISED law at Annapolis. He was born 
April, 1741, in Somerset county, Maryland. 
His father was a clergyman. At the age 
of twenty-two, Samuel, having studied law, was 
admitted to the bar at Annapolis, where he fixed 
his residence. The following year he was cho- 
sen a member of the provincial assembly. He was 
one of the five delegates sent from Maryland to the 
continental congress in 1774, and was also one of 
the committee of correspondence for that colony. 
He was also elected to congress in 1775 and 1776, 
when he signed the Declaration of Independence 
with a willing hand. In 1778 he withdrew from 
congress, after which, in 1796, on the nomination of 
president Washington, he was confirmed by the se- 
nate as a judge of the supreme court of the U. S. The 
duties of this office he performed with honesty and 
integrity for fifteen years. His useful life closed on 
the 19th of June, 1811. He was in the 70th year 
of his age. He was a man of great benevolence 
and an exemplary Christian. : ; 



60 



ABRAHAM CLARK. 





EARED upon his father's farm, in Eliza- 
bethtown, state of New Jersey, was an only- 
child. He was born February 15, 1726. 
^'j|He become a practical surveyor and also studied 
f^law, leaving the enviable title of "the poor man's 
^ counsellor." Although he held several offices 
under the royal government, when the right moment 
arrived, he did not hesitate to espouse the republican 
cause. In 1776 he was elected to the continental 
congress, where he voted for and signed the Decla- 
ration of Independence. He remained an active 
member of Congress, with the exception of one 
term, until the proclamation of peace in 1783. In 
1783 he was again elected to the general congress, 
and was a member of the convention that formed 
the present constitution of the U. S. He was sub- 
sequently elected to the first congress under the pre- 
sent federal government, in which post he continued 
until the close of his life. He died in the fall of 
1794, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 



GEORGE CLYMER. 



61 






ARLY left an orphan, was born at Philadel- 
phia in 1739. A maternal uncle, a worthy- 
man, took George with his family and edu- 
cated him as his own son. He left school for 
the counting room and prepared for commercial 
life. At the age of twenty-seven he married a 
Miss Meredith, when he entered into the mercantile 
business with his father-in-law. About this time his 
uncle died, leaving him a large fortune. Having 
early espoused republican principles, Mr. Clymer 
was placed by the people in several responsible situ- 
ations. In 177r5, when the Pennsylvania delegates 
in the general congress had declined signing the 
Declaration of Independence, he with Dr. Rush 
were appointed to succeed them, and both joyfully 
affixed their signatures. He was reelected to con- 
gress in 1779, when he enjoyed the confidence of 
Washington. He continued in congress until 1782. 
He was a member of the convention that framed 
the federal constitution, and was elected to the first 
congress under its provisions. The remainder of 
his life was spent in other acts of public and private 
usefulness. He died on the 24th of February, 1813. 



62' 



WILLIAM ELLERY. 





'^ORN at Newport, Ehode Island, December 
•22, 1727; graduated at Harvard College in 
1747, at the age of twenty ; and afterwards 
commenced the practice of the law at New- 
jport, where he acquired a fortune. Enjoying 
the entire confidence of his fellow citizens, he 
was soon called into active service in the cause of 
patriotism. In 1776 he was sent with Stephen 
Hopkins as a delegate to the general congress, where 
he voted for and signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. After holding many honorable offices 
in his state, he was appointed judge of the supreme 
court of Rhode Island, where, in connection with 
Rufus King of New York, he made strenuous efforts 
for the abolition of slavery in the United States. 
After the adoption of the constitution in 1788, he 
was appointed collector of the port of Newport, 
which office he held until his death. He died on 
the 15th of February, 1820. He was a true patriot 
and a sincere Christian. 



WILLIAM FLOYD. 



63 





INOWN as an active and eminent American 
statesman, was of Welsh descent. His 
grandfather emigrated from that country, in 

tl680, and settled at Setauket, Long Island. 
William was born December 17th, 1734. His 
father dying soon after William had closed his 
studies, the supervision of a large estate devolved 
upon him. Having early espoused the republican 
cause, he was soon called into active life. He was 
a prominent member of the continental congress in 

1774, and was military commander of the militia 
in Suffolk county. He was reelected to congress in 

1775, when he warmly supported the resolutions of 
Mr. Lee, and signed the Declaration of Independence. 
He was afterwards elected a senator in the first 
legislative body that convened in New York. Being 
again elected to congress in 1780, he remained in 
that body until the declaration of peace, in 1783. 
In 1788, after the newly adopted constitution was 
ratified, he became a member of the first congress 



64 WILLIAM FLOYD. 

which convened under that charter in the city of 
New York in 1789. Declining- a reelection, he re- 
tired from public life. In 1800 he was chosen a 
presidential elector, and subsequently held other 
honorable offices. He died August 4th, 1821, in his 
eighty-seventh year. His long and active life 
proved of invaluable service to his country; and his 
numerous excellencies of character made him uni- 
versally beloved. 

When a good man dies, "his works follow him." 
Many rise to call him blessed. His memory does 
not perish even from the earth. Even here he is 
immortal. His flesh moulders in the grave to be 
sure, and his spirit ascends to God, but his holy acts 
of devotion to God while he yet dwelt among us, 
still live, and like seed planted in his life-time 
spring forth after his death, grow up, flourish and 
bear fruit to the honor of his memory and the glory 
of his God. He who would live long should fill up 
his days with labors of love, then shall he abide in 
sacred recollection, even after the spirit has entered 
its rest. Who does not feel and know this to be true ? 
Who but loves and fondly cherishes the memory 
of the just! 

Professsor Hufeland in his work on Death, has the 
following interesting passage : 

" People form the most ?iugnlar conception of tlie last struggle, the 
separation of the soul from the body, and the like. But this is all void 
of foundation. No man certainly ever felt wliat death is; and as insen- 
sihly as we enter into life, equally insensiblu do we leave it. The begin- 
ninif and the end are here united. My proofs are as follows: First, 
man can have no sensation of dying; tor, to die, means nothing more 
than to lose the vital power, and it is the vital power which is the medium 
of comnuniication between the soul and body. In proportion as the 
vital power decreases, we lose the power of sensation and of conscious- 
ness; and we can not lose lite without at the same time, or rather before, 
losing our vital sensation, which requires the assistance of the tenderest 
organs. We are taught also by experience, that all those who ever passed 
through the first stage of death, and were again brought to life, unani- 
mously asserted that they felt nothing of dying, but sunk at once into a 
state of insensibility." 



BENJAMIN FRANIiLIN. 



65 





The thunders of a mighty age, 

May drown the voices of the past, 
But thou, the printer and the sage, / 

Shall speak thy wisdom to the last. 

'EW men furnish a happier subject for the 
biographer, than this great philosopher and 
statesman. It is not merely that the his- 
tory of Franklin is intimately interwoven with 
that of one of the mightiest political move- 
ments which the world has ever witnessed, and 
that it was in great part by his hands that the founda- 
tions Avere laid of a powerful and flourishing repub- 
lic; if this were all, his life, to the generality of 
readers, would be rather a tale of wonder than a 
lesson. But the achiever of such high political re- 
sults, was not more remarkable or interesting as a 
public character than as a private individual; and 
in the latter capacity the record of his progress from 
boyhood to old age, is full of instruction for all. 



66 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Mass., 
on the 17th day of January, 1706. His fatlier was 
a true Puritan, and emigrated hither from England, 
in 1682. He soon afterward married Miss Foiger, 
a native of Boston. Being neither a mechanic nor 
farmer, he turned his attention to the business of a 
soap boiler and tallow chandler, which was his oc- 
cupation for life.* 

The parents of Benjamin wished him to be a 
minister of the gospel, and they began to educate 
him with that end in view, hut their slender means 
were not adequate for the object, and the intention 
was abandoned. He was kept at a common school 
for a few years, and then taken into the service of 
his father. The business did not please the boy, 
and he was entered on probation, with a cutler. 
The fee for his admission to apprenticeship was too 
high, and he abandoned that pursuit also, and was 
put under the instruction of an elder brother, who 
was a printer. There he continued until he became 
quite proficient, and all the while he was remark- 
able for his studiousness, seldom spending an hour 
from his books, in idle amusement. At length the 
harmony between himself and brother was inter- 
rupted, and he left his service and went on board 
of a vessel in the harbor, bound for New York. In 
that city he could not obtain employment, and he 
proceeded on foot to Philadelphia, where he arrived 
on a sabbath morning. He was then but seventeen 
years old, friendless and alone, with but a single 
dollar in his pocket. He soon found employment 
as compositor, in one of the two printing establish- 
ments then in Philadelphia, and was at once no- 
ticed and esteemed by his employers, for his indus- 
try and studious habits. 

Having written a letter to a friend at New Castle, 
in Delaware, in which he gave a graphic account 
of his journey from Boston to Philadelphia, which 

* Lossing. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 67 

letter was shown to Gov. Keith, of that province, 
that functionary became much interested in the 
young journeyman printer, and invited him to his 
mansion. Friendship succeeded the first interview, 
and the governor advised him to set up business for 
himself, and offered his patronage. The plan of 
operation was rather an extensive one, and involved 
the necessity of making a voyage to England for 
materials. Franklin went to London, but found 
Sir William Keith's patronage of so little avail, that 
he was obliged to seek employment for his daily 
bread. He obtained a situation as journeyman 
printer in one of the principal offices there, and by 
the same line of industry, studiousness, punctuality 
and frugality, he soon won to himself numerous 
friends. Unfortunately he was thrown in the way 
of some distinguished infidels while he was in 
London, (among whom was Lord Mandeville,) and 
received flattering attentions from them. His mind 
became tinctured with their views, and he was in- 
duced to write a pamphlet upon deistical meta- 
physics, a performance which he afterward regretted, 
and candidly condemned. 

With the fruits of his earnings Franklin resolved 
to take a trip to the continent, but just as he was 
on the point of departure, he received an ofter from 
a mercantile friend, about to sail for America, to 
accompany him as a clerk. He accepted it, and 
embarked for home in July, 1726. 

AVith his new employer, at Philadelphia, Franklin 
had before him a prospect of prosperity and wealth, 
but soon a heavy cloud obscured the bright vision. 
His friend died, and once more Franklin became a 
journeyman printer with his old employer. Li a 
short time he formed a partnership with another 
printer, and commenced business in Philadelphia, 
where his character, habits, and talents, soon gained 
him warm friends, public confidence, and a success- 



68 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

ful business.* So multifarious were the public and 
private labors of usefulness of this ^rcat man, from 
this period until his death, that our circumscribed 
limits will permit us to notice them only in brief 
chronological order. 

In 1732 Franklin began his useful annual, called 
Poor Richard's Almanac. It was widely circulated 
in the colonies and in England, and was translated 
into several continental languages of Europe. It 
continued until 1757. About the same time he 
commenced a newspaper, which soon became the 
most popular one in the colonies. By constant, 
persevering study, he acquired a knowledge of the 
Latin, French, Spanish and Italian languages. He 
projected a literary club, called the Junto, and the 
books which they collected for their use, formed the 
nucleus of the present extensive Philadelphia Li- 
brary. He wrote many pamphlets containing es- 
says upon popular subjects, which were read with 
avidity, and made him very popular. With his 
popularity, his business increased, and his pecuniary 
circumstances became easy in a few years. 

In 1734, he was appointed government printer 
for Pennsylvania, and in 1736 he received the ap- 
pointment of clerk of the general assembly. The 
next year he was made postmaster of Philadelphia. 
The income arising from these offices and from his 
business, relieved him from constant drudgery, and 
left him leisure for philosophical pursuits, and the 
advancement of schemes for the public good. 

In 1741 he commenced the pubUcation of the 
General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for the 
British Plantations, which had a wide circulation. 
In 1744 he was elected a member of the general 
assembly, and was annually reelected, for ten con- 

* In 1730 he niamed a young widow lady, whose maiden name was 
Read. He had sought her hand before going to England, but she gave 
it to another. Her husband died while Franklin was absent, and their 
intimacy was renewed soon alter his return. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 69 

seciitive vears. It was about this time that he made 
some of his philosophical discoveries, upon the 
mysterious wings of which his fame spread world- 
wide. 

Ill 1753 he was appointed a commissioner to treat 
with the Indians at Carlisle. In 1754 he was a 
delegate from Pennsylvania to a convention of 
representatives of the colonies that met at Albany 
to consult upon the general defence and security 
against the French. He there proposed an admira- 
ble plan of union. About this time he was ap- 
pointed deputy postmaster-general. He was also 
active in improving the military affairs of the colony, 
and rendered Gen. Braddock distinguished service 
in providing material for his expedition against Fort 
Da Quesne. In 1757 Franklin was sent by the 
general assembly of the province to London, as its 
counsel in a dispute with the governor; and he so 
managed the case as to obtain a verdict for the 
assembly. He remained a resident agent for the 
colony in England, for five years, and formed many 
valuable acquaintances while there. On his return 
he was publicly thanked by the general assembly, 
and the sum of twenty thousand dollars presented, 
to him as compensation for his important services. 

In 1764, he was again sent to England as agent 
for the colony, upon business similar to that for 
which he was first sent, and he was there when the 
stamp act was passed, loudly and boldly protesting 
against it. His opinions had great weight there j 
and having been appointed agent for several of the 
colonies, the eyes of statesmen at home and abroad 
were turned anxiously to him, as the storm of the 
revolution rapidly gathered in dark and threatening 
clouds. He labored assiduously to eftect concilia- 
tion, and he did much to arrest for a long time the 
blow that finally severed the colonies from the mo- 
ther country. Satisfied at length that war was 



70 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

inevitable, he returned home in 1775, and was at 
once elected a delegate to the general congress. 
He was again elected in 1776, and was one of the 
committee appointed to draft a declaration of inde- 
pendence, voted for its adoption, and signed it on 
the second of August. 

In September, 1776, Franklin was appointed one 
of three commissioners to meet Lord Howe in con- 
ference on Staten Island, and hear his propositions 
for peace. The attempt at conciliation proved 
abortive, and hostilities commenced. About this 
time a convention was called in Pennsylvania, for 
the purpose of organizing a state government, ac- 
cording to the recommendation of the general con- 
gress. Franklin was chosen its president, and his 
wisdom was manifested in the constitution which 
followed. He was appointed by congress a com- 
missioner to the court of France, to negotiate a 
treaty of alliance. Although then over seventy 
years of age, he accepted the appointment, and 
sailed in October, 1776. He was received with dis- 
tinguished honors, and strong expressions of sym- 
pathy in behalf of his country were made; yet the 
French ministry were so cautious, that it was not 
until after the news of the capture of Burgoyne 
(Oct. 1777,) reached them, and American affairs 
looked brighter, that they would enter into a formal 
negotiation. A treaty was finally concluded, and 
was signed by Franklin and the French minister, 
in February, 1778. America was acknowledged 
independent, and the French government openly 
espoused her cause. Franklin was invested by 
congress with almost unlimited discretionary pow- 
ers, and his duties were very arduous and complex; 
yet he discharged them with a lidelity and skill 
which excited the admiration of Europe. Great 
Britain at length yielded, and consented to negotiate 
a treaty of peace upon the basis of American inde- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 71 

pendence; and on the third day of September, 1783, 
Doctor Franklin had the pleasure of signing a de- 
finitive treaty to that effect. 

Franklin now asked leave of congress to return 
home to his family, but he was detained there until 
the arrival of Mr. Jefferson, his successor, in 1785. 
His return to the United States was received with 
every demonstration of joy and respect from all 
classes. Notwithstanding he was upwards of eighty 
years of age, the public claimed his services, and he 
was appointed governor of Pennsylvania, which 
office he held three years. In 1787 he was a mem- 
ber of the convention which framed the present 
constitution of the United States, and this was the 
last public duty he performed. The gout and stone, 
from which he had suffered for many years, ter- 
minated his life on the 17th of April, 1790, in the 
84th year of his age. 

A vast concourse of people followed his body to 
the grave, and not only this country, but the Avhole 
civilized Avorld, mourned his loss. 

The following is a list of the moral virtues drawn 
up by Dr. Franklin for the regulation of his life: 

1. Temperance. — Eat not to dulness; drink not to 
elevation. 

2. Silence. — Speak not but what may benefit 
others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 

3. Order. — Let all your things have their places; 
let each part of your business have its time. 

4. Resolution.' — Resolve to perform what you 
ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 

5. Frugality. — Make no expense but to do good 
to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing. 

6. Industry. — Lose no time ; be always employed 
in something useful ; cut oft^ all unnecessary actions. 

7. Sincerity. — Use no hurtful deceit ; think inno- 
cently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accord- 
ingly. 



72 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

8. Justice. — ^Wrong none by doing injuries, or 
omitting the benefits that are your duty. 

9. Moderation. — Avoid extremes; forbear resent- 
ing injuries so much as you think they deserve. 

10. Cleanliness. — Tolerate no uncieanliness in 
body, clothes, or habitation. 

11. Tranquility. — Be not disturbed at trifles, or 
at accidents common or unavoidable. 

12. Chastity 

13. Humility. — Imitate Jesus and Socrates. 



■VVilliani, tlie son of Dr. Franklin, was born in 1731. He ^vas a cap- 
tain in the French war, and served at Ticonderoga. In 17G3 he waa 
appointed governor of New Jersey. In this otiice he continued, firm in 
his loyalty until tiie breaking out of the revolution, when the whigs sent 
him to Connecticut. On his release he went to England, where a pen- 
sion was conferred upon him for his losses. He died in 1813, aged 
eighty-two. lie was, we believe, the last of the line. 

" We are going to sjK'culate about the causes of the fact — but a fact it 
is — that men distinguished for extraordinary intellectual power, of any 
sort, rarely leave more than a very brief line of progeny behind them. 
Men of genius have scarcely ever done so — men of imaginative genius, 
we might say, almost never. With the one exception of the noble Surrey, 
we can not, at this moment, point out a representative in the male line, 
even so far down as in the third generation, of any English poet, and we 
believe the same is the case in France. The blood of beings of that 
order can seldom be traced far down, even in the female line. With 
the exccjJtion of Surrey and Si)encer, we are not aware of any English 
author of at all remote day, from whose body any living person claims 
to be descended. There is no other real English |)oet ])rior to the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century, and we believe no great author of ;iiiy sort, 
except Clarendon and Shaftsbury, of whose blood we have any inherit- 
ance amongst us. Chaucer's only son died childless. Shakspeare's line 
expired in his daughter's only daughter. None of the other dramatists 
of that age have left any progeny — nor Raleigh, nor Bacon, nor Cowley, 
nor Butler. The grand-daughter of Milton was the last of his blood. 
Neither Bolingbroke, Addison, Warburton, Johnson, nor Burke, trans- 
mitted their blood. 

"When a human race has produced its ' bright consummate flower,' 
in this kind, it ' seems commonly to be near its end.' 

" The theory is illustrated in our own day. The two greatest names 
in science and literature of our time, were Davy and Sir Walter Scott. 
The first died childless. Sir Walter Scott left four children, of whom 
three are dead, only one of them, (Mrs. Lockhart,) leaving issue, and the 
fourth, his eldest son, though living, and long married, has no issue." — 
Democratic Revieiv. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. , 73 

When Franklin was a journeyman printer in London, among his fel- 
low workmen was a James Iluddleston Wynne, related to a vei-y re- 
spectable family in South Wales. But Wynne becoming disgusted with 
the business, obtained a lieutenantcy in a regiment about to set out for 
India. Quarreling however with his brother officers, he was left behind 
when the sliip arrived at the Cape. He then returned to England, where 
he married. It was about this time that Mr. Wynne thought of com- 
mencing author, and his ffrst application in that way was to Mr. George 
Kearsley, bookseller. Fleet street, whose liberality enabled him to sup- 
port his family. He had two other employers: one in Paternoster row, 
the other in May fair. For the first he was doomed periodically to Avrite 
rebuses and enigmas; for the other, petty fables, children's lessons in 
verse, or to devise new fangled modes of playing the game of goose. As 
these two pillars of literature lived at so great distance apart, our poor 
poet, who had suffered a total derangement of the muscles of his right 
leg, was almost reduced to a skeleton by his attendance on them. When 
he had written a dozen lines for a child's play-card, or half a page of a 
monthly magazine, our poet was obliged to go with liis stock of com- 
modity from Bloomsbury, where he occupied an attic, first to Ma}' fair, 
and then to Paternoster row; and the remuneration he received for the 
effusions of his brain was frequently insufficient to procure him the 
means of existence. 

Mr. Wynne's figure was below the middle stature; his face thin and 
pale; his liead scantily covered with black hair, collected in a tail about 
the thickness of a tobacco-pipe; his emaciated right leg was sustained by 
an unjjolished iron — he wore his gloves without fingers, and his clothes 
in tatters. In such a trim he one day entered the shop of Mr. Kearsley, 
the bookseller, who possessed a heart susceptible of every good, and a 
heart ever ready to relieve distress. Mr. K.'s shop was the lounge for 
gentlemen of literary attachment, who stopped to inquire the occurrences 
of the day; and several persons of fashion were present when Wynne 
entered, and began to talk in a way that showed want of good breeding. 
His shabby appearance, together with his unbridled loquacity, threw 
Kearsley into a fever until he got rid of him; after Aviiich, moved at the 
indelicacy of his api)earance, Mr, K., from the purest motives, took a suit 
of his clothes, almost new, and with other appendages, bundled them 
together in a handkerchief, and with a polite note, sent them after Mr. 
W. to his lodgings. As this was done without the knowledge of a third 
person, and in so polite a way, it would be reasonable to suppose that 
Mr. Wynne received the gift with thankfidness, at least with good man- 
ners; but the result proved otherwise. He stormed like a madman, and 
in a rage retm-ned the bundle, tliough he was covered with rags like a 
pauper; writing by the porter, that " the pity he had experienced was 
brutality ; the officiousness to serve him insolence ; and if ever Mr. K. 
did tiie like again till he was requested, he would chastise him in another 
way." This would have been a wren pouncing upon an eagle; for Mr. 
Kearsley was a tall, stout man — a Colossus to Wynne. 

Notwithstanding the preceding, Mr. Wynne Avas not without his at- 
tachment to dress and fashion. A short time previous to his publish- 
ing his History of Ireland, he expressed a desire to dedicate it to the 
Duke of Nortliumberland, who was just returned fiom being lord- 
lieutenant of that countiy. For that purpose he waited on Dr. Percy, 
and met with a very polite reception. The duke was made acquainted 
with his wishes, and Dr. Percy went as the messenger of good tidings 
to the author. But there was more to be done than a formal introduc- 
tion ; the poor writer intimated this to the good doctor ; who in the most 

10 



74 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

delicate terms begged his acceptance of an almost new suit of black, 
wliich, with a very little alteration, might be made to fit. This the doc- 
tor urged woidd be the best, as there was not time to provide a new suit 
and other things necessary for liis debut, as the duke had appointed 3Ion- 
day in the next week to give tlie historian an audience. Mr. Wynne ap- 
proved of the plan in all respects and in the mean time had prepared 
himself with a set speech and a manuscript of the dedication. But to 
digress a little, it must be understood that Dr. Percy was considerably in 
stature above Mr. W., and his coat sufficiently large to wrap around the 
latter, and conceal him. The morning came for the author's public en- 
try at Nortiiumberland house; but alas! one grand mistake had been 
made: in the hurry of business no ai)plication liad been made to the 
tailor for the necessary alterations of his clothes; however, great minds 
are not cast down with ordinary occurrences; Mr. Wynne dressed him- 
self in Dr. Percy's friendly suit, together with a borrowed sword, and a 
hat under his arm of great antiquity; then taking leave of his trejnbling 
wife, he set out for the great house. True to the moment, he arrived — 
Dr. Percy attended — and the duke was ready to receive our poet, whose 
figure at this time presented the appearance of a suit of sables hung on 
a hedge stake, or one of those bodiless forms we see swinging on a 
dyer's pole. On his introduction, Mr. Wynne began his formal address; 
and the noble duke was so tickled at the singularity of the poet's appear- 
ance, that, in spite of his gravity, lie burst the bonds of good maimers; 
and at length, agitated by an endeavor to restrain risibility, he leajjcd 
from his chair, forced a jjurse of thirty guineas into Mr. Wynne's hand, 
and hurrying out of the room, told the poet he was welcome to make 
what use he pleased of his name and patronage. 



The following is the order of longevity tliat is exhibited in the various 
lists, and the average duration of lite of the most eminent men, in each 
pursuit.. 

.'Iggregaie years. Average years. 

Natural Philosophers, 1504 75 

Moral philosophers, 1417 70 

Sculptors and Painters, 1412 70 

Authors on Law and Jurisprudence, 13}*4 69 

Medical authors, 1368 68 

Authors on Revealed Religion, 1350 67 

Philologists, 1323 66 

Musical Composers, 1284 64 

Novelists and Miscellaneous Authors, 1257 62i 

Dramatists, 1249 62 

Authors on Natural Religion, 1245 62 

Poets, 1144 57 



ELBRIDGE GERRY. 



75 




^^^^-r-^^ -^ir7*2 



^^^^OTFADING are the laurels of such men as 
^I'iMJ Elbridf^e Gerry. He was born at Marble- 
^^^^ head, Massachusetts, July 17, 1744. From 
^ his father, a wealthy merchant, he received a 
i}'Wi liberal education, after which he amassed a 
"^ considerable fortune by commercial pursuits. 
Fearless in the expression of his sentiments against 
the oppression of the mother country, he was elected 
a member of the general court of the province in 
1773. He soon became a bold and energetic leader, 
and was active in all the leading political move- 
ments, until the war broke out. At the time of the 
battle of Bunker Hill, he was a member of the pro- 
vincial congress, and the night previous to the battle 
he and General Warren slept together in the same 
bed. In the morning they bade each other an af- 
fectionate farewell. They parted to meet no more 
on earth, for Warren was slain on the battle field. 

In January, 1776, Mr. Gerry was elected a mem- 
ber of the continental congress, when he signed his 
name to the Declaration of Independence. After 



76 ■ ELBRIDGE GERRY. 

serving in many important capacities, among- which 
was that of governor of his native state, in 1811 he 
was elected vice-president of tlie United States. 
But before the expiration of his term, while at the 
seat of government, he died suddenly, Nov. 23, 
1814, aged seventy years. 



Mrs. Ann Gerry.— Died at New Haven, on the 17th of March, 1849, 
Mrs. Ann Gerry, aged 8G, relict of vice-president Elbridge Gerry, and 
daughter of the venerable Charles Thonijjson, the secretary of the revo- 
lutionary congress. She was one of the most elegant and acconii)lisiied 
ladies of her day. Trained up amidst the scenes of the revolution, she 
possessed all the energy and firmness of those times. During her hus- 
band's absence as ambassador to France, her house was entered by a 
burglar, when, animated with a true courage, she seized a jiistol and 
encountered him ; he fled before her, jumped from a window, broke his 
leg, and was taken. Her husband died poor; and to provide ibr this 
relict of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and vice-president, 
her son was appointed surveyor of the port of Boston. A brother, in 
the service of the East India Company, left her a handsome fortune. 
Colonel J. T. Austin, the late accomplished attoniey-general, of Massa- 
chusetts married her eldest daughter. — Salem Register. 



The origin of the names of Whig and Tory is ob- 
scure. It was in 1774 that the American loyalists 
were designated as Tories, while the name of Whig 
was assumed by the patriots. According to Bishop 
Burnett, the term Whig has the following deriva- 
tion : 

" The people of the southwestern parts of Scotland, not raising suf- 
ficient grain to last them through the winter, generally went to Leith to 
purchase the superabundance of the North. From the word IVhiggam, 
which they used in driving their horses, they were called Jf'higamores, 
and, abbreviated, Whigs. On one of these occasions, news having reached 
Leith of the defeat of Duke Hamilton, the ministers invited the Whig- 
gamores to march against Edinburgh, and they went at their head, 
preaching, and praying all the way. The Marquis of Argyle, with a 
force, ojjposed and dispersed them. This was called the ff'higamore 
inroad, and ever after that, all that opposed the court, came in contempt 
to be called Whigs. The English adopted the name. The origin of the 
word Tory is not clear. It was first used in Ireland in the time of 
Charles II. Sir Richard Phillips defines the two parties thus: "Those 
are Whigs who would curb the power of the crown ; those are Tories 
who would curb the power of the people." 



BUTTON GWINNETT. 



77 





/ ■ 

^LOUDED as is the memory of this man by 
his untimely end, his name as a true patriot 
deserves to be handed down to posterity. 
Button Gwinnett was a native of England. 
He was born in 1732, and emigrated to America 
in 1770. After spending two years in Charles- 
ton, in the mercantile business, he sold out his stock 
and removed to Georgia, where he purchased a 
large estate on St. Catharine's Island. In 1775 he 
espoused the cause of the patriots, and was elected 
to the continental congress. Reelected in the fol- 
lowing year, he signed the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Leaving congress in 1777, he was elected a 
member of the convention of South Carolina to form 
a constitution. After the adjournment of the con- 
vention, Mr. Gwinnett was elected president of the 
council, and many other civil honors were bestowed 
upon him. 
While in congress he had offered himself as a 



78 BUTTON GWINNETT. 

candidate for the office of brigadier-general. His 
competitor was Colonel Mcintosh. The latter re- 
ceiving the appointment, Mr. Gwinnett looked upon 
his rival as a personal enemy. This resulted in a 
challenge to Col. Mcintosh, which was accepted. 
Their weapons were pistols, and at the first fire both 
were wounded; that of Mr. Gwinnett Avas mortal, 
and he died, aged forty-five. He left a wife and 
several children, but they soon followed him to the 
grave. 



"NotljinjT, says a late writer, is more deeply rooted in modern man- 
ners, tliaii the practice of dueling. In vain Christianity, which requires 
us to love our neighbor as ourself, lifts her voice against the barbarous 
custom of shedding man's blood, for the slightest offence ;"in vain legisla- 
tors have enacted the severest laws against dueling. Hitherto, neither 
religion nor law have been able to root it up. It exists among us as in 
the dark ages, with only this difference — very considerable it is true — 
that these combats are not prescribed by law, to end judicial controver- 
sies. 

How, then, came the custom of dueling in Europe, and to be so 
deeply rooted? We do not read in history that Themistocles, Aristides, 
Epamiuondas, or Phocion, went into the tield sword in hand, to adjust 
their privite quarrels. When Marius insulted Sylla, or when Pompey 
oficnded C.X'sar, they did not challenge one anotlier, like gladiators, to 
decide which would be the most adroit in giving a blow with the sword 
to his adversary. These great men, though they were raised in the 
darkness of paganism, would have regarded such private combats as a 
sin and a shame. It would even seem, in spite of the conunon opinion, 
that the ancient nations of Germany did not practice dueling — at least, 
not frequently; — for Tacitus, who is so exact, makes no mention ».f it in 
his book On the Manners of tke Germnns. The first j)ositive traces of this 
custom are found among the Burgundians, alter they had invaded the 
Gauls. Regarding military courage as the first of all virtues, these bar- 
barians believe that the bravest man had necessarily right on his side. 
It must also be confessed, that the ciiurch itself, unfiiithful to the first 
principles of the gospel, consecrated for a longtime this sad custom, and 
contributed to introduce it into the coiu-ts, under the name of the judg- 
ment of God. 

The priests and the doctors of tliis period reasoned very singularl}^ 
'God governs the world,' said they; 'but he nnist protect the innocent 
against the guilty; therefore, in a duel, he will certainly give the victoiy 
to him who is unjusdy accused.' The jiremises of this argument are 
just; b\it the conclusion is false. Undoubtedly, God governs the world, 
and is the |)rotector of innocence; but does it follow that he must inter- 
pose directly in every matter, in every dispute, to show on ^vhich side 
are right, truth and equity? This would be, to suppose that God would 
work a miracle, every time man should be j)lcased to ask it; it would 
be to tall into tlie sin which the Scripture denominates tempting God. 
So, when Pope Gregory VII., in his great contest with the Emperor of 



BUTTON GWINNETT. 79 

Germany, said : ' To prove that ri«jht is on my side, I take this conse- 
crated wafer, and I ask God to strike ine dead tiie moment I open my 
mouth to eat it, if I am in the wrong.' Gregory VII. uttered an absiudity 
and a blas[)hemy, analagous to him who introihiced the custom of duel- 
ing, to decide (piarrels; he falsely supposed that the Lord would be 
obliged to work a miracle, Avhen it suited a poor human being to ask it; 
this pope tempted God. 

The custom of dueling was preserved for several ages, in the courts 
to the disgrace of the hunjan mind; the priests themselves ibught, or 
appointed champions to tight for them. Among many curious facts, the 
following rest upon the most solid testimony. At the end of the eleventh 
century, a dispute having arisen in Spain, to know if the Gothic liturgy 
shoidd continue to be used, or if the Roman liturs^/ should be substituted 
for it, the |)nests appointed two knights to decide the question by the 
sword, and the champion of the Roman breviary was vanquished. So 
then, by skill in fencing, and by blood, it must be decided in which of 
two ways to serve the God of peace. Could there be greater extravagance 
and sacrilege ?" 



The first duel in New England was fought on the 18th of Jime, 1621, 
on a challenge at single combat, with sword and dagger, between two 
servants; both of Avhom were wounded. For this outrage they were 
sentenced by the whole company to the ignominious psmishment of 
having the head and feet tied together, and of lying thus twenty-four 
houis without meat or drink. Alter suffering however, in ihat painfid 
posture one. at their masters interference, and their own humble retpiest, 
with the promise of amendment, they were released by the governor. 



A clergyman in a letter to the New York Observer 
says: 

"A few years ago a duel was fought near the city of Washington, 
under circumstances of peculiar atrocity. A distinguished individual 
challenged his relative, once his friend. The challenged party having 
the choice of wf^apons, named muskets, to be loaded with buck shot and 
slugs, and the distance ten paces; avowing at the same time his inten- 
tion and desire that both parties should be destroyed. The challenger 
was killed on the spot, the murderer escaped unhurt! Years afterwards, 
an acquaintance ot mine was spending the winter in Charleston, S. C, 
and lodged at tJic same house with this juhappy man. He was requested 
by the duelist one evening, to sleep in the same room with him, but he 
declined as he was very well accommodated in his own. On his per- 
sisting in declining the duelist confessed to him that he was afraid to 
SLEEP ALONE, auu US a friend who usually occupied the room was absent, 
he would esteem it a gi'eat favor if the gentleman would pass the night 
with him. His kindness being thus demanded, he consented, and re- 
tired to rest in the room with this man of fashion and honor, who some 
years before had stained his hands with the blood of a kinsman. After 
long tossing on his unquiet pillow, and repeated deep, half-stifled groans 
that revealed the inward pangs of the murderer, he sank into slumber, 
and as he rolled from side to side the name of his victim was often 
uttered, with broken words that discovered the keen remorse that preyed 
like fire on his conscience. Suddenly he would start up in his bed with 
the terrible impression that the avenger of blood was piu'suing him; or 



80 BUTTON GWINNETT. 

hide liiniself under the covering as if he would escape the burning eye 
of an angry God, that gleamed in the darkness over him, like lightning 
from the thunder cloud ! For him tiiere was " no rest, day nor night." 
Conscience, armed with terrors, lashed him unceasingly, and who could 
sleep ? And this was not the restlessness of disease ; the raving of a dis- 
ordered intellect, nor the anguish of a maniac struggling in his chains! 
It was a man of intelligence, education, health and atHuence, given up 
to himself — not delivered over to the avenger of blood to be tormented 
before his time — but left to the power of his own conscience — suffering 
only, what every one may suffer who is abandoned of God! 

1 have this narrative from the lijjs of the man who saw and heard 
what is here related, and therelbre I repeat it with entire confidence in 
its truth. These details of mental and moral suffering are recited, not 
to enlist the sympathy and harrow the tender sensibilities of the human 
heart, but to illustrate this simple tliought; if here, in this imperfect 
state of being, with limited capacities for misery, with half-developed 
sensibilities, poor human nature may thus suffer, what may not the im- 
mortal mind endure when the clay casement shall fall off, and the naked 
spirit lies under the wrath of Omnipotence; every faculty of that spii'ita 
living nerve, and every breath a flame of fire! 



How oflen in human life is it to be wished that we could recall the 
past. " What deeds, done amiss, would then be rectified ! What mis- 
takes in thought, in conduct, in language, would then be corrected ! What 
evils for the future avoided! What iiilse steps would be turned back! 
What moral bonds, shackling our whole being, would not then be broken ! 
If any man would take any hour out of any period of his life, and look at 
it with a calm, impartial, unprejudiced eye, he would feel a longing to 
turn back and change something therein ; he would wish to say more 
than he had said — or less — to say it in a different tone — with a different 
look — or he would have acted differently — he would iiave jielded — 
or resisted — or listened — or refused to listen — he would wish to have 
exerted himself energetically — or to have remained passive — or to 
have meditated ere he acted — or considered something he had forgot- 
ten — or attended to the small, still voice in his heart, when he had 
shut his ears. Something, something, he would have altered in the 
past! But, alas! the past is the only reality of life, unchangeable, irre- 
trievable, indestructible ; we can neither mohl it, nor recall it, nor Avipe 
it out. There it stands forever ; the rock of adamant, up whose steep 
side we can hew no backward path." 

He is unwise and unhappy who never forgets the injuries he may have 
received. They come across the heart like dark shadows, when the 
sunshine of happiness would bless him, and throw him into a tumult that 
does not easily subside. The demon of hate reigns in his bosom and 
makes him, of all accountable creatures the most miserable. 

Have you been injured in purse or character? Let the smiling angel 
of forgiveness find repose in your bosom. Study not how you may re- 
venge but return good for evil. 

The sandal-tree perfumes, when riven, 

The axe that laid it low ; 
Let man who hopes to be forgiven, 

Forgive and bless his foe. 



LYMAN HALL. 



81 





ALE College, has perhaps sent forth more 
truly great men than any similar institution 
^^^ in the world. Born in Connecticut in 1721, 
ISffiCHall graduated at that college, and afterwards 
^ studied medicine. In 1752 he married and com- 
'^menced practice in Dorchester, South Carolina. 
He afterwards moved to Medway, in Georgia. In 
1775, he was elected a delegate to the general con- 
gress. He was also one of the five delegates from 
Georgia, in 1776, and with them signed the Decla- 
ration of Independence. He served in congress for 
several years afterwards. In 1780, the invasion of 
Georgia by the British, called him home. He ar- 
rived in time to preserve his family, but his property 
was left a sacrifice. In 1782 he returned, and on 
the following year was elected governor of the state. 
He died universally beloved, in 1784, in the sixty- 
third year of his age. 

11 



82 



JOHN HANCOCK. 






"^^N the constellation of military heroes he 
was a star of the first magnitude. A native 
of Qnincy, in Massachusetts, he was born 
m 1737. His father and grandfather were 
both faithful ministers of the gospel, friends 
of the poor and patrons of learning. Deprived 
by death of an inestimable mother, when quite an 
infant, he was left to the care of a paternal uncle, 
a rich merchant of Boston, who had accumulated a 
large fortune. By this relative John was treated 
with great kindness. Having graduated at Havard 
College, at the age of seventeen he was taken by his 
uncle into his counting room as clerk. So satisfied 
was the latter of the abilities of his nephew, that he 
sent him on business matters to England, where he 
witnessed the funeral obsequies of George the 
Second, and the coronation of George the Third. 
Shortly after his return, his uncle died, leaving him 
at the age of twenty-six, one of the largest fortunes 



JOHN HANCOCK. 83 

in Massachusetts. Relinquishing commercial pur- 
suits, and becoming an active politician on the 
democratic side, he was soon appreciated by the 
people. Having held other offices, in 1776 he was 
elected a member of the general provincial assem- 
bly. Here he became a popular leader, and as such 
drew upon himself the direst wrath of royalty. 

At the time of the Boston massacre, and during 
the tea riot, he was very active; and on the anni- 
versary of the massacre in 1774, he delivered an 
oration, in which he boldly denounced the acts of 
the royal government. After serving in the execu- 
tive council, in 1774, Mr. Hancock was unanimously 
elected president of the provincial congress. During 
the same year he was elected to the continental 
congress, to which station he was reelected in 1775. 
On the retirement of Peyton Randolph from the 
presidential chair of that body, John Hancock was 
elevated to that station. He filled the chair on the 
ever memorable 4th of July, 1776, and as presi- 
dent, he first signed the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

Owing to ill-health, in 1777, he resigned the presi- 
dency of congress. He was subsequently elected 
governor of Massachusetts, which office, by annual 
election, he held for five successive years. The two 
following years he declined the honor, but again 
accepting it, he held the office until his death. 

In 1773, he married Miss Quincy, by whom he 
had one son, who died young. 

Mr. Hancock was a man of great natural talent, 
and peculiarly fitted for the extraordinary times in 
which he lived. His memory as a benefactor to his 
country will be ever green. He died October 8th, 
1793, aged fifty-five. 



84 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 




^J e/>^ k/^c 



a/y^-y^'^^^ 




As the lioaiT liills eternal, 

As the rock of ajres strong, 
Noiseless tliroiigh Time's ceaseless changes, 

Beating back the waves of wrong — 
Tlioiigh the elements conspire, 

Wage a wild and fearful strife 
From the mighty shock recoiling, 

With renewed and stronger life. 
Tlius with Freedom — standing ever 

By the wayside of the truth, 
With the birtli of time coeval. 

Yet in all the blooni of youth — 
Mocking every feint to crush it, 

Of the )nmy arm of man. 
With the myrmidons of power 

Clustered in the tyrants span. 

ONDON is said to have been the native place 
of the ancestors of this patriot. They emi- 
grated to America in 1G40, and settled at 
Berkley, Virginia, where the subject of this 
sketch was born. 

Benjamin, at a very early age, became a mem- 
ber of the Virginia house of burgesses, where he was 
soon elected speaker. He was one of the first seven 




BENJAMIN HARRISON. 85 

delegates from Virginia to the continenal congress 
in 1774. He was reelected in 1775, and took an 
active part in many important measnres. He was 
warmly in favor of independence, and when that 
great question was discussed in convention of the 
whole, he was in the chair. On the 4th of July he 
voted for the Declaration, and signed the document 
on the second of August following. He afterwards 
held the office of speaker in the house of burgesses 
until 1782, without interruption. He was then 
elected governor of Virginia, in which office he 
served during two successive terms. In 179], after 
the election, he invited a party of his friends to dine 
with him. That night, however, he experienced a 
relapse of his complaint, the gout in the stomach, 
and the next day he expired. 

He was married in early life to Miss Elizabeth 
Bassett. They had a numerous family of children, 
but only seven lived to a mature age. One of these 
was William Henry Harrison, late president of the 
United States. 

When Benjamin was quite young, his venerable 
father and two of his daughters were instantly struck 
dead by lightning in their mansion house at Berkley. 



Pending the political agitation relative to the stamp act, the royal go- 
vernor wished to conciliate Mr. Harrison by the offer of a seat in the 
council. This was, however, promptly rejected. 

Mr. Wirt, referring to the introduction of Patrick Henry's resolution 
respecting the stamp act, says : 

" It was in the midst of the magnificent debate on those resolutions, 
while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he 
exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god: 'Cassar 
had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third ' 
— ' Treason !' cried the speaker — ' treason, treason,' echoed from every 
part of the house. It was one of those trying moments which are deci- 
sive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant ; but rising to a loftier 
attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he 
finished the sentence with the firmest emphasis — ' and George the Third 
— may profit by their example. If that be treason, make the most of it.' " 



86 



JOHN HART. 





r^ 



'EVER lived a more sterling patriot than John 
Hart, formerly called the New Jersey 
Farmer. Edward Hart, hisfather, was also 
armer, and had distinguished himself under 
^ Wolfe at Quebec. It is supposed that John 
'was born about the year 1714. 
During the stamp act excitement, John, although 
living in a remote agricultural district, united Avith 
others in electing delegates to the colonial congress 
that convened in New York city in 1765. In 1774, 
he was elected to the first continental congress. 
On the following year he was reelected, but owing 
to the pressure of his private affairs, he resigned. 
In 1776, he was again elected to the general con- 
gress, when he added his name to the Declaration of 
Independence. As he clearly foresaw, nothing could 
have been more inimical to his private interest than 
this act. His estate was exposed to the fury of 
the enemy, and he himself was hunted from place 
to place like a wild beast. This appalling state 
of things to himself and family, was not ended until 
the success of Washington at the battle of Trenton. 
Mr. Hart died in 1780, a martyr to his patriotism. 



THOMAS HAYWARD, JUN. 



87 





A/ ^i^c 



<^ J^-U/i^ 




ON of Colonel James Hayward, one of the 
wealthiest planters in the province, was 
born in St. Luke's parish, South Carolina. 
^ After the prepararory studies, Thomas was sent 
y^ to England to complete his legal education. On 
^ his return, he commenced the practice of his 
profession, and married a Miss Matthews. Among 
the earliest of those in South Carolina, who resisted 
the oppression of the home government, in 1775, he 
was elected to the general congress. Reelected the 
next year, he warmly supported Mr. Lee's motion 
for emancipation from British rule, and voted for and 
signed the Declaration. He remained in congress 
until 1778, when he was appointed judge of the 
criminal and civil court of South Carolina. He 
also held a military commission, and was in active 
service in the skirmish with the enemy at Beaufort, 
in 1780. He there received a gun-shot wound, the 
mark of which he bore for life. After the capture 
of Charleston by Sir Henry Clinton, Mr. Hayward 
was taken prisoner, and sent to Augustine, Florida, 



88 THOMAS HAY WARD, JUN. 

where he remained a year. While there, in addi- 
tion to the loss of his large property, he sustained 
a more afflicting loss by the death of his amiable 
wife. 

After his return to South Carolina, he was elected 
to the convention which framed the constitution of 
his state. Having married a second wife, named 
Savage, in 1799, he withdrew from public life. He 
died March, 1809, in the 63d year of his age. 

During his travels in Europe, Mr. Hayward saw 
all the trappings of royalty and its minions, but 
instead of being dazzled by them, he viewed them 
as the blood-stained fruits of wrong and oppression. 

Could he have looked at futurity and seen the 
mighty European revolutions of the present day, of 
which that in his own time was the sure precursor, 
how cheering would have been the view. 



JOSEPH HEWES. 



89 





(U.e>^^ 




^VER green will be the memory of such 
sterling patriots as Mr. Hewes. He was 
born at Kingston, INew Jersey, in 1780, 
He was educated at Princeton, and then 
apprenticed to a merchant in Philadelphia. 
)mmencing business on his own account, he 
soon amassed a large fortune. In 1760, he returned 
to North Carolina, and settled at Edenton. In 1763, 
and for several successive years, he was elected to 
the legislature of that state. In 1774, he was a 
delegate to the continental congress, and was placed 
upon the committee appointed to draw up the 
Declaration of Rights. He was reelected to con- 
gress in 1775 and 1776, when he signed the Declara- 
tion of Independence. He died at Philadelphia, 
October 29th, 1779. He was the only one of all the 
signers who died at the seat of government, and his 
remains were followed to the grave by a large con- 
course of citizens. 



12 



90 WILLIAM HOOPER. 




^^^ ^^^^^^-^^^""^ 




'AS born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 
f. 17th, 1742. In 1760 he graduated at Har- 
v^ vard University with distinguished honors. 
,^^After studying law, he commenced practice in 
%,® North Carolina, where he soon rose rapidly in 
his profession. In 1773, he was elected to the pro- 
vincial assembly of North Carolina. Sympathizing 
with the oppressed, he soon became obnoxious to 
the royalists. In 1774 he was a delegate to the first 
continental congress. He was again elected in 1775, 
and also in 1776, when he voted for and signed the 
Declaration of Independence. After holding other 
offices, he died at Hillsborough, October, 1790, aged 
forty-eight years. 

The winds breathe low — the witherhig leaf 

Scarce whisi)crs from the tree! 
So gently flows the i)arting breath 

When good men cease to be. 

How beautiful on all the hills 

The crimson light is shed ! 
'Tis like the peace the Christian gives 

To mourners round his bed. 



STEPHEN HOPKINS. 



91 




IVtJL^ 



MtfA^ 



i^ 



^(jj^-p^^;5;*4ERY few men ever possessed a more vigor- 

&, ^^^ intellect than this patriot. He was 

,0^ born at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 

^^7th March, 1707, and his mother was the 
%^^ daughter of one of the first Baptist ministers of 

^ that place. Having but few advantages of 
education, he became self-taught in the truest sense 
of the word. Being engaged as a farmer until 1731, 
he removed to Providence, where he engaged in the 
mercantile business. In 1732 he was elected to the 
general assembly, and was annually reelected until 
1738. Being again elected in 1741, he was chosen 
speaker of the house of representatives. During the 
following ten years he was almost every year a 
member and speaker of the assembly. In 1751 he 
was chosen chief-justice of the colony. In 1754 he 
was a delegate to the colonial convention, held at 
Albany, for the purpose of concerting effectual 
measures to oppose the encroachment of French 
settlers. In 1756 he was elected governor of the 



92 STEPHEN HOPKINS. 

colony, in which office he continued ahiiost the 
whole time until 1767. 

An early opposer of the oppressive acts of Great 
Britain, the patriots conferred upon him several 
offices of great responsibility, among which was 
that of delegate to the continental congress. AVhile 
a member of the assembly of Ehode Island, he in- 
troduced a bill to prohibit the importation of slaves, 
and to prove his sincerity he gave freedom to all 
those which belonged to himself. On his reelection 
to the general congress, in 1776, he had the privi- 
lege of signing the glorious Declaration of Independ- 
ence. In 1778 he was reelected to the general con- 
gress for the last time, and was one of the commit- 
tee who drafted the articles of confederation for the 
government of the states. He died on the 19th of 
July, 1785, aged seventy-eight years. The life of 
Mr, Hopkins, says Lossing, exhibits a fine example 
of the rewards of honest, persevering industry. 
Although his early education was limited, yet he 
became a distinguished mathematician, and filled 
almost every public station in the gift of the people, 
with singular ability. He was a sincere and consist- 
ent Christian, and the impress of his profession was 
upon all his deeds. 

The signature of Mr. Hopkins is remarkable, and appears as if written 
by one greatly agitated by fear. But fear was no })ait of INIr. Hopkins' 
ciiaracter. The cause of the tremulous appearance of his signature, was 
a bodily infirmity, called shaking ])alsy, with which he had been 
afflicted many years, and which obliged him to employ an amanuensis to 
do his writing. 

He was twice married; the first time to Sarah Scott, a meml)er of the 
society of Friends, (whose meetings Mr. Hopkins was a regular attendant 
uj)on through lilc,) in 172(); she died in l/.'iS. h\ 1755 he married a 
widow, named Anna Smith. 

He rendered great assistance to othpr scientific men, in observing the 
transit of Venus which occurred in June, l/OO. He'was one of the 
prime movers in forming a public library in Provideme, in 1750. He 
was a member of the American philosophical society, and was the pro- 
jector and patron of the free schools in Providence. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON. 



93 



/ roy 




r, lill III iia Ml I 




'E was born at Philadelphia, 1737. His 
parents were En^i^lish. His mother was 
_ the dang^hter of the Bishop of Worcester, 
iS) and she and her husband moved in the highest 
^ifX circles in their native country, as did they also 
in Philadelphia. 
At the age of fourteen, Francis lost his father. 
After graduating at the college of Philadelphia, he 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1765. 
After a visit to his relatives in England, in 1768, he 
married Miss Ann Borden of Bordentown, New Jer- 
sey. Soon after his marriage, he was appointed to 
a lucrative office in New Jersey, which he held until 
his republican principles caused the anger of the 
minions of British power. In 1776, being elected a 
delegate to the general congress, he joyfully affixed 
his signature to the Declaration of Independence. 
He subsequently held the offices of loan commis- 
sioner, and admiralty and district judgeship of Penn- 
sylvania. A fit of appoplexy terminated his life in 
May, 1791, in the fifty-third year of his age. He 
was a poet and an ardent patriot. 



94 SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 





\^ MOST remarkable man, was born at Wind- 

f ham, Connecticut, July 2d, 1782. His 

father, an industrious farmer, was not able 



'to give his son more than a common education. 
But Samuel being very studious, surmounted 
every obstacle, and acquired a tolerable know- 
ledge of Latin. At the age of thirty-two, with 
borrowed bo'oks, and without any instruction, he 
commenced the study of law. He was admitted to 
the bar, and before he was thirty years of age, had 
secured a good practice in his native town. In 
1760 he removed to Norwich. After serving in the 
general assembly, and as a member of the council, 
in 1774 he was appointed associate judge of the 
supreme court. In 1775 he was appointed a dele- 
gate to the general congress, when on the following 
year, he voted for and signed the Declaration of 
Independence. In 1786 he was elected governor of 
his native state, which office he held until his 
death, which took place at Norwich, January 5, 
1796, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He Avas a 
sincere Christian, a man of untiring industry, and 



SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 95 

was remarkable for decision of character. This was 
the grand secret of his success. 

"Who are the great men? Who have been the 
leaders, the reformers, the thinkers, the heroes of 
mankind? By what process was their being built 
up — the Platos, the Ciceros, the Pauls, the Burkes, 
giants of their kind ? Was it by dreams and visions, 
by sloth and self-indulgence? Grew up Luther's 
noble heart in ease ? Was Wesley's iron fibre the 
product of repose? We have communed with 
great men to little purpose if we have not learned 
that, however else they may have diifered, in one 
respect they were all alike. Their sinews grew by 
labor. The record of their lives is but a register of 
their deeds. Endowed, by nature, it may have 
been, with high powers, they did not suffer them to 
lie rotting in indolence; but with manful heart 
and strong hand, fulfilled their mission of labor by 
day and by night. Their works do follow them." 

"As a house without inhabitants will soon run to 
waste, and the richest soil without cultivation will 
be covered with loathsome weeds; so will the mind 
that is unoccupied with that which is useful, edify- 
ing, and innocent, become deterioated and cor- 
rupted. There is a rust of mind as well as of metal, 
by which its brightness and edge are dimmed and 
destroyed ; and as use by its friction is necessary to 
the polish and keenness of the one, so is exercise to 
that of the other. And as water when it remains 
stagnated will become impure and generate mias- 
mata, so the faculties of the mind, by the stagnation 
of the intellect, will become corrupted and perverted. 
Active exercise is as necessary to health of mind as 
to health of body." 



96 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 










4 



HOMAS Jefferson, was the third president 
of the TTnited States of America, under the 
constitution of 1789. He passed two years 
at the college of William and Marv, but his 
education was principally conducted by private 
tutors. He adopted the law as his profession. 
He was a member of the les^islature of Vira^inia from 
1769, to the commencement of the American revo- 
lution. In 1775, he was a delegate in congress 
from Virginia. May 15, 1776, the convention of 
Virginia instructed their delegates to propose to 
congress a declaration of independence. In June 
Mr. Lee made the motion for such a declaration in 
congress, and it was voted that a committee be 
appointed to prepare one. The committee was 
elected by ballot, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, 
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, 
and Robert R. Livingston. The declaration was 
exchisively the work of Mr. Jefferson, to whom the 
right of drafting it belonged as chairman of the 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 97 

committee, though amendments and alterations 
were made in it, by Adams, Franklin, and other 
members of the committee, and afterwards by con- 
gress. Mr. Jefferson retired from congress in Sept. 
1776, and took a seat in the legislatm*e of A^irginia 
in October. In 1779, he was chosen governor of 
Virginia, and held the office two years. He de- 
clined a foreign appointment in 177(3, and again in 
1781. He accepted the appointment of one of the 
commissioners for negotiating peace, but before he 
sailed, news was received of the signing the pro- 
visional treaty, and he was excused from proceed- 
ing on the mission. He returned to congress. In 

1784, he wrote notes on the establishment of a 
money-unit, and of a coinage for the United States. 
He proposed the money-system now in use. In 
May, 1784, he was appointed, with Adams and 
Franklin, a minister plenipotentiary to negotiate 
treaties of commerce with foreign nations. In 

1785, he was appointed minister to the French 
court. In 1789, he returned to America, and re- 
ceived from Washington the appointment of secre- 
tary of state, which he held till Dec. 1793, and then 
resigned. On some appointment being offered him 
by Washington in Sept. 1794, he replied to the 
secretary, "no circumstances will ever more tempt 
me to engage in anything public." Notwithstand- 
ing this determination, he suffered himself to be a 
candidate for president, and was chosen vice-presi- 
dent in 1796. At the election in 1801, he and 
Aaron Burr having an equal number of the electoral 
votes, the house of representatives, after a severe 
struggle, finally decided in his flivor. He was re- 
elected in 1805. At the end of his second term, he 
retired from office. He died July 4, 1826, at one 
o'clock in the afternoon, just fifty years from the 
date of the declaration of independence, aged 83. 
Preparations had been made throughout the United 
States to celebrate this day, as a jubilee, and it is a 

13 



98 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

most remarkable fact, that on the same day, John 
Adams, a signer with Jefferson of the Declaration, 
and the second on the committee for drafting it, 
and his immediate predecessor in the office of pre- 
sident, also died. 



The following were Jefferson's ten rules to be obsei'ved in practical 
life. 

1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to day. 

2. Never trouble others for what you can do yourself. 

3. Never spend your money before you have it. 

4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. 

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold. 
(J. We never repent of having eaten too little. 

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 

8. How much pains have those evils cost us which never happened, 
y. Take tilings always by their smooth handle. 

10. When angry count ten before you speak, if very angry a hundred. 



" Mr. Dix, in searching amongst the government archives recently, 
found the original draft of tlie ordinance of 1784, presented to congress, 
and acted upon in the month of April in tliat year. The committee re- 
porting the ordinance consisted of Messrs. Jefferson, Howell, of R. I., 
and Chase, of Md. The ordinance is in the hnndwritivg of Mr. Jefferson, 
including the famous clause against slavery or involuntary servitude, 
which was struck out by that congress, and afterwards incorporated by 
Mr. Dane, in his draft of the ordinance of 1787, and adopted by congress. 
The pai)er is deposited in the state departnient, along with other records 
of the proceedings of the old congress." — Albany Atlas. 



RICHARD HENRY LEE. 



99 





Q^^C c^tL^e^^i^^o^ ^/ C^i^MX^ 



7 



^^^^NE of the most distinguished patriots, was 
born in the county of Westmoreland, Vir- 

ginia, on the 20th of January, 1732. Having 

^)i received his education in England, he returned 
jiM to Virginia at the age of nineteen and applied 
himself zealously to literary pursuits. His first 
appearance in public life was in 1755, on the arrival 
of Braddock from England, who summoned the 
colonial government to meet him in council previ- 
ous to his expedition against the French and In- 
dians, upon the Ohio. Lee having formed a mili- 
tary corps, presented himself and tendered the ser- 
vices of himself and volunteers. But the haughty 
Braddock proudly refused to accept the offer. Lee, 
deeply mortified and disgusted, returned home with 
his troops. At the age of twenty-five he was elected 
a member of the house of burgesses of Virginia. 
During the stamp act excitement, he was the first 
man in Virginia who stood publicly forth in oppo- 

LOFC 



100 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

sition to the execution of that measure. In 1774 
Mr. Lee was elected to the general conj^ress, where 
he spoke out boldly for the rights of the colonists. 
In 1775 he was again elected to the general con- 
gress. He was reelected in 1776, and on the 7th 
of June of that year, he introduced the celebrated 
resolution for a total separation from the mother 
country. This resolution being made the order of 
the day for the first Monday in July, a committee, 
of which Thomas Jefferson was chairman, was ap- 
pointed to draw up a Declaration of Independence. 
This document was adopted on the 4th of July, by 
the unanimous vote of the thirteen united colonies. 
Mr. Lee continued in congress until 1779, when 
as lieutenant of the county of Westmoreland, he 
took the command of the militia in defence of his 
state against the "red coats. "^ In 1783, being 
again elected to congress, he was by a unanimous 
vote elected president of that body. On the adop- 
tion of the Federal Constitution he was chosen the 
first senator from Virginia under it. Honored and 
revered by a grateful people, he died on the 19th 
day of June, 1794, in the sixty-fourth year of his 
age. He was a practical Christian, and in all the 
relations of life, above reproach. 

* Why the British Soldier is Clothed in Red. — Red was always 
the national color of the Northmen, and continues still in Denmark and 
England, the distinctive color of their military dress. It was so of the 
head men and people of distinction in Norway in the eleventh century. 



FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE. 



101 




*_>^<7«^^?n-^<^t<' ~Z<^^y^^'^Lo-^'^ JC ^e' 




ROTHER of Richard Henry Lee, was born 
in Westmoreland county, Virginia, Octo- 
ber 14tli, 1734. In 1765 he served in the 
Virginia house of burgesses, in which body 
continued until 1772, when marrying the 
daughter of Col. John Taylor, of Richmond, he 
removed to that city. He was elected at once a 
member from Richmond to the house, where he 
served until 1775, when he was sent a delegate to 
the continental congress. He sympathized with his 
noble brother in his yearning for independence, and 
with great joy voted for and signed the document 
which declared his country free. 

He died suddenly in April, 1797, from an attack 
of the pleurisy, in the sixty-third year of his age. 
His wife died a few days afterwards with the same 
disease. 



102 



FRANCIS LEWIS. 





a^^ 



^c^W 





R. LEWIS was born at LandafF in Wales, 
and at the age of twenty-one arrived at 

New York city, where he formed a business 

,^j,^ partnership in the mercantile business. He 
M«^ afterwards married the sister of Mr. Annesley, 
'' his partner, by whom he had seven children. 

At the capture of the fort at Oswego, in 1757, Mr. 
Lewis was aid to Col. Mercer. The latter was killed, 
and Lewis was taken with other prisoners to Canada. 
From there he was sent to France, where he was 
finally exchanged. At the close of the war, the 
British government gave him five thousand acres 
of land for his services. In 1765, he was elected 
from New York to the colonial congress. In 
1775 he was elected to the general congress. On 
the following year he was reelected and became 
one of the signers of the Declaration. He remained 
actively employed in congress until 1778. So pro- 
minent a character could not fail of being an object 



FRANCIS LEWIS. 103 

of the bitter resentment of the Tories, who not only 
destroyed his property at Long Island, but brutally 
confined his wife in a close prison for several months 
ivithout a bed or change of raiment. Owing to this her 
health was ruined and she died in less than two 
years afterwards. 

Honored and revered by all, Mr. Lewis died De- 
cember 30, 1803, aged ninety years. He was a real 
Christian. With what truth has it been said, that 
political eminence and professional fame fade away 
and die with all things earthly. Nothing of charac- 
ter is really permanent but virtue and personal 
worth. They remain. Whatever of excellence is 
wrought into the soul itself, belongs to both worlds. 
Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this 
life, it points to another world. Political or profes- 
sional fame can not last forever, but a conscience 
void of offence before God and man, is an inheritance 
for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary, an 
indispensable element in any great human charac- 
ter. There is no living without it. Religion is the 
tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds 
him to his throne. If that tie be all sundered, all 
broken, he floats away a worthless atom in the uni- 
verse, its proper attractions all gone, its destiny 
thwarted, and its whole future nothing but dark- 
ness, desolation and death. A man with no sense 
of religious duty is he whom the scriptures describe 
as " living without God in the world." Such a man 
is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all 
his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness, and 
away, far, far away, from the purpose of his Creator. 



104 



PHILIP LIVINGSTON. 





I OREMOST amon<T the worthies of the re- 
volution, stands the name of this excellent 
man. He was descended from a Scotch 
minister of the orospel, who in 1G63 emigrated 
to Rotterdam. His son Robert, the father of 
Philip, came to America, and under the patroon 
privileges, obtained a grant of the large tract of land 
in Columbia county on the Hudson, ever since 
known as Livingston's Manor. 

Philip was born at Albany, January 15, 1716. 
Having graduated with honor at Yale College in 
1737, lie engaged in an extensive mercantile busi- 
ness in the city of New York, where he won the 
profound respect of the whole community. From 
1754 to 1763, he held the office of alderman in that 
city. Being elected to the general assembly, his 
superior wisdom and sagacity soon made him a 
leader in that body. In 1774 Mr. Livingston was 
elected to the first continental congress, and was 
one of the committee that prepared the address to 
the British people. In 1775, owing to the demeanor 



PHILIP LIVINGSTON. 105 

of the tories in the assembly, it was found impossi- 
ble to elect delegates to the second congress. Ac- 
cordingly eight counties of New York sent delegates 
to a provincial convention, which body elected de- 
legates to the general congress. Among them were 
Philip Livingston. He warmly supported the pro- 
position for independence, and voted for and signed 
the Declaration thereof. He subsequently served 
in the New York state senate which met September 
10, 1777. 

In 1778, although suffering much from dropsy in 
the chest, he obeyed the calls of duty, and again 
took his seat in congress to which he had been 
elected . Having a strong presentiment that he should 
never return to his family, on his departure in May, 
1778, he bade them and his friends a final adieu. 
This presentiment became a reality, for on the 12th 
June following, his disease proved fatal. He was 
aged sixty-two years. 

• 

Tlie strange inborn sense of coming death, 

That sometimes whispers to tiie haunted breast 
In a low sighing tone which naught can still, 
'Mid feasts and melodies a secret guest ; 
Whence doth that murmur come, that shadow fall ? 
Why shakes the spirit thus ? 'Tis mystery all ! 

Darkly we move — we press upon the brink 
Haply of unseen worlds, and know it not! 
Yes! it may be, that nearer than we think 

Are those whom death hath parted from our lot. 
Fearfully, wondrously, our souls are made: 
Let us walk humbly on, yet undismayed. 

Among other laudable acts, Mr. Livingston was 
one of the founders of the New York society library, 
and of the chamber of commerce. He also aided 
materially in the establishment of Columbia col- 
lege. A more useful man never lived. 

14 



106 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 





HANCELLOU Livingston, says Lossing, 
was of noble lineaQfC' — ^noble not only by 



but in 



high 



and virtuous 



royal patent, 
Meeds. 

He was born in the city of New York, in the 
year 1747. At the age of seventeen he graduat- 
ed at Columbia college, and then studied law. He 
was soon after appointed recorder of the city of New 
York, at which time he warmly espoused the patriot 

cause. 

In 1775, he was elected a member of the conti- 
nental congress, assembled in Philadelphia, where 
his activity and zeal were such tluit he was reelected 
for 1776.* He took part in the debntcs which oc- 
curred on the motion of Richard Henry Lee, of Vir- 
ginia, declarinsr the united colonies free and inde- 

* Robert R. Livingston was not one of those who signed the Declaration 
of Independence, yet his name slioiild ever be inseparably connected 
with theirs, for he was one of the committee of the inmiortal congress 
of 1776, to whom was intrusted the momentous task of framing that 
revered document. 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 107 

pendent; and he was placed upon the committee, 
which congress appointed to draw up a Declaration 
of Independence, in conformity with the spirit of 
the revolution, and was present when it was adopted. 

His name was not affixed to the declaration, but 
in regard to the reasons wh)^ his signature was with- 
held, his biographers are silent. We venture the 
opinion that he regarded as correct the doctrine, 
that the representative is bound to act in accordance 
with the expressed will of his constituents. 

When after the adoption of the Declaration, 
congress recommended the several states to form 
constitutions for their governments respective- 
ly, Mr. Livingston was elected a member of the 
convention of New York, assembled for that pur- 
pose. He served alternately in congress and in the 
legislature of his native state from 177-5 till 1781, 
when under the articles of confederation, he was 
appointed secretary for foreign affairs, which station 
he filled, with great industry and fidelity, until 1783. 
On retiring from the office he received the thanks 
of congress. He was that year appointed chancellor 
of the state of New York, and was the first who 
held the office under the new constitution of the state. 

Mr. Livingston was a member of the convention 
of New York which assembled at Poughkeepsie, in 
1788, to take into consideration the newly formed 
federal constitution, and he was then one of its 
warmest advocates in procuring its ratification by 
that body. 

In April, 1789, Washington, the first president of 
the United States, was inaugurated in the city of 
New York. It was one of the most august occa- 
sions the world has ever witnessed, and Chancellor 
Livingston had the exalted honor of administering 
the oath of office to that great leader, and of wit- 
nessing before high Heaven his solemn pledge to 
support the constitution. 

In 1801, Chancellor Livingston was appointed by 



108 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 

president Jefferson, minister to the court of France, 
at the iiead of which was then the young conqueror 
of Italy, Napoleon Bonaparte, first consul of the 
French Republic. He at once won the esteem and 
confidence of that great captain, and successfully 
negotiated with his ministers for the purchase of 
Louisiana, then in possession of France. 

The treaty was signed in April, 1802, by Mr. Liv- 
ingston and Mr. Monroe, on the part of the United 
States, and by the Count de Marbois in behalf of 
France. While in Europe, Chancellor Livingston 
indulged and cultivated his taste for literature and 
the fine arts. Science too claimed his attention, 
and the aid and encouragement which he rendered 
to Robert Fulton, form an imperishable monument 
of honor to his memory. 

Agriculture was his study and delight, and to him 
the farmers of this country are indebted for the in- 
troduction of gypsum, or plaster, for manure, and 
the clover grass. 

" Chancellor Livingston continued actively en- 
gaged in public life until a year or so before his 
death, which occurred at his country seat at Cler- 
mont, on the twenty-sixth day of February, 1813, 
when he was in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He 
was a prominent actor in scenes which present fea- 
tures of the most remarkable kind, as influencing 
the destinies of the world. His pen, like his ora- 
tory, was chaste and classical ; and the latter, be- 
cause of its purity and ease, obtained for him from 
the lips of Dr. Franklin, the title of the Cicero of 
America. And to all of his eminent virtues and 
attainments he added that of a sincere and devoted 
Christian, the crowning attribute in the character 
of a good and great man." 

The following interesting account of one of the 
ancestors of the Livingston family, says Grant 
Thorburn, is a historical fact. It occurred within 
six miles of my birth-place. I have heard my 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 109 

grandfather, who died at-the age of ninety-six, and 
my father, who died in his ninety-third year, eacli 
relate it as an undisputed fact: 

LADY JANE. 

The Earl of Wigton, whose name figures in the Scottish annals during 
the reign of Charles II., had tin-ee daughters, named Lady Frances, Lady 
Grizel, and Lady .lane; the latter being the youngest by several years, 
and by many degrees the most beautiful. All the three usually resided 
with their mother, at the family-scat in Sterlingshire ; but the two eldest 
were occasionally permitted to attend tiieir father in Edinburgh, in order 
that they might have a chance of obtaining lov'^ers at the court held there 
by the Duke of Lauderdale; while Lady Jane Avas kept constantly at 
home, and debarred from the society of the capital, lest her superior 
beautj might interfere with and foil tlie attractions of her sisters, wlio, 
according to the notions of that age, had a sort of right of primogeniture 
in matrimony, as well as in what was called heirship. It may easily be 
imagined that Lady Jane spent no very pleasant life, shut up, as it were, 
in a splendid palace, to be sure, but having no company except her old 
cross mother and the servants, tlie palace being in a remote part of the 
countrj^ Besides, she was so very beautiful her parents were afraid that 
any gentlemen should see her, and so take the shine off her two eldest 
sisters, who were rather homely-looking articles, and older by eight or 
ten years. Jane was now in her seventeenth year. 

At the period when our history opens. Lady Jane's charms, although 
never seen in Edinburgh, had begun to make some noise there. A 
young gentleman, one day passing the garden, espied what he termed 
an angel picking strawberries. After gazing till he saw her retreat 
under the guns of her father'w castle, he inquired among the cottagers, 
and learned it was Jane, the youngest daughter of Lord Wigton. He 
rode on and reported the matter in the ca])ital. The young gallants 
about the court were taken by surprise. Lord AVigton and his two 
daughters made quite a swell in Edinburgh at this time; but no one ever 
heard of Lord Wigton having a third daughter. These reports induced 
Lord Wigton to confine her ladysliip even more strictly than heretofore, 
lest perchance some gallant might make a pilgrimage to his countiy-seat, 
in order to steal a glimpse of his beautiful daughter; he even sent an 
express to his wife, directing her to have Jane confined to the precincts 
of the house and garden, and also to be attended by a trusty female ser- 
vant. The consequence Avas, that the young lady complained most 
piteously to her mother of the tedium and listlessness of her life, and 
wished with all her heart that she Avas as ugly, as old, and happy as her 
sisters. 

Lord Wigton was not insensible to the cruelty of his policy, howcA'er 
well he might be convinced of its necessity. He loved this beautiful 
daughter more than either of the others, and it Avas only in obedience to 
Avhat he conceived to be the commands of duty that he subjected her to 
this restraint; his lordship therefore felt anxious to alleviate, in some 
measure, the disagreement of her solitaiy confinement, and knoAving her 
to be fond of music, he sent her by a messenger a theorbo, Avith Avhich 
he thought she Avould be able to amuse herself in a Avay very much to 
her mind ; not considering that, as she could not play upon the insti-u- 
ment, it Avould be little better to her than an unmeaning toy. By the 
return of the messenger she sent a very affectionate letter to her father, 



110 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 

thanking him for the instrument, but reminding him of the oversight, 
and begged him to send some person who could teach her to play upon 
it. 

The gentry of Scotland at that period were in the habit of engaging 
private teachers in their families. They were generally young men of 
tolerable education, who had visited the continent. A few days after the 
receipt of his daughter's letter, it so happejicd tiiat he was applied to by 
one of those useful personages, wishing ejuployment. He was a tall, 
handsome youth, apparently about twenty-five years of age. After seve- 
ral questions, his lordship was satisfied that he was just the person he 
was in quest of; as, in addition to many other accomplishments, he was 
particularly well qualified to teach the theorbo, and had no objection to 
enter the service, with the proviso tliat he was to be spared the disgrace 
of wearing tlie tamilj' livery. The next day saw Richard (his name was 
Richard Livingston) on the road to Wigton palace, bearing a letter from 
Lord Wigton to his daughter Jane, setting forth the qualities of the 
young man, and hoping she would now be better contented with her 
present residence. 

It was Lady Jane's practice every day to take a walk, prescribed by 
her father, in the garden, on which occasions the countess conceived 
herself acting up to the letter of her husband's commands when she 
ordered Richard to attend his pupil. Tliis arrangement was exceedingly 
agreeable to Lady Jane, as they sometimes took out the theorbo and 
added music to the other pleasures of the walk. 

However, to make a long story short, it would have been a new pro- 
blem in nature could these young people have escaped from falling in 
love. They were constantly together; no company frequented the house ; 
the mother was old and infirm, and perfectly satisfied when she knew 
Lady Jane was within the Hunts prescribed by her father. Lady Jane 
was now in her eighteenth year, and jirobably never had seen, and cer- 
tainly never conversed with any man having the education and polish 
of a gentleman. Although Richard had not yet told his tale of love, his 
genteel deportment, handsome person, and certain sorts of attention 
which love only can dictate, had won her heart before she knew it; her 
only fear now was that she might betray herself; and the more she 
admired, the more reserved she became towards him. As lor Richard, 
it was no wonder that he should be deeply smitten with the charms of 
his unstress; lor ever, as he stole a long furtive glance at her graceful 
form, he thought he had never seen, in Spain or Italy, any such speci- 
mens of female loveliness; and the admiration with which she knew he 
beheld her, his musical acconjplishnicnts which had given her so much 
pleasure, all conspired to render him precious in her sight. The habit 
of contem|jlating her lover every day, and that in the dignified character 
of an instructor, gradually blinded her to his humble quality, and to the 
probable sentiments of her fatlu;r and the world upon the subject of her 
passion ; besides, she often thought that Richard was not what he seemed 
to be ! She had heard of Lord JJelliaven, who, in the period iunnediately 
preceding, had taken refuge from the fury of (Jromwell in the service of 
the English nobleman whose daughter's heart he had won under the 
humble disguise of a gardener, and whom, on the recurrence of better 
times, he carried home to Scotland as his lady. 

Things continued in this way during the greater part of the summer 
without the lovers coining to an eclaircissement, when the Earl of Home, 
a gay young nobleman, hearing of the beauty of Lady Jane, left Edin- 
bin-gh and took the way to Lord Wigton's palace, resolving first to see, 
then to love, and finally to run away with the young lady. He skulked 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. Ill 

about for several clays, and at last got a sight of the hidden beauty over 
the garden wall, as she was talking with Richard. He thought he had 
never seen a lady so beautiful before, and, as a matter of course, resolved 
to make her his own. He watched next day, and meeting Richard on 
the outside of the premises, proposed by a bribe to secure his services 
in procuring him an interview with Lady Jane. Richard promptly re- 
jected the offer, but upon a second thought saw fit to accept it. On the 
afternoon of the second day he was to meet Lord Home, and report 
pi-ogress. With this they parted — Ricliard to muse on this unexpected 
circumstance, whicli he saw would blast all his hopes unless he should 
resolve upon prompt measures; and the Earl to the humble village inn, 
where he had for the last few days acted the character of " the daft lad 
frae Edinbitrirh, wha seemed to hah mair siller than sense." 

What passed between Jane and Richard that afternoon and evening 
my informant does not say; early the next morning, however, Richard 
might have been seen jogging swiftly along the road to Edinburgh, 
motmted on a stout nag, with the fair Lady Jane comfortably seated on 
a pillion behind him. It was market day in Edinburgh, and the lanes 
and streets, on entering the city, were ciowded with carts, &c., so that 
they were compelled to slacken their pace, and were thus exposed to the 
scrutinizing gaze of the inhabitants. 

Both had endeavored to disguise every thing remarkable in their ap- 
pearance, so far as dress and demeanor could be disguised; yet, as Lady 
Jane could not conceal her extraordinary beauty, and Richard had not 
found it possible to part with a sly and dearly beloved mustache, it natu- 
rally followed that they were honored with a gi'eat deal of staring, and 
many an urchin upon the street tlirew up his arms as they passed along, 
exclaiming, " Oh ! the black bearded man !" or " Oh the bonnie ladie !" 
The men all admired Lady Jane, the women Richard. The lovers had 
thus to run a sort of gauntlet of admiration till they reached the house 
of a friend, when the minister being sent for, in a few minutes Richard 
and Lady Jane were united in the holy liands of matrimony. 

In Scotland, the promise of the man and woman before witnesses 
constitutes a lawful marriage. 

When the ceremony was concluded, and the clergyman and witnesses 
satisfied and dismissed, the lovers left the house, with the design of 
walking in to the city. Lady Jane had heaid much from her sisters in 
praise of Edinburgh, but had never seen that gude toon imtil that day. 
In conformity with a previous arrangement. Lady Jane walked first, like 
a lady of honor, and Richard followed close behind, with the dress and 
deportment of a servant; her ladyship was dressed in her finest suit, and 
adorned with her finest jewels, all which she had brought with her on 
purpose in a small bundle, which she bore on her lap as she rode behind 
Richard. Her step was light and her Ijearing gay. As she moved along 
the crowd in the streets gave way on both sides, and wherever she went 
she left behind her a wake, as it were, of admiration and confiision. 

It so happened that on this day the parliament of Scotland was going 
to adjourn, a day on which there was always a general turn out among 
the gentry, and a gi-and procession. Richard and his lady now directed 
their steps to the parliament square. Here all was bustle and magnifi- 
cence; dukes and lords, ladies and gentlemen, all in the most splendid 
attire, threading their way among the motley crowd. Some smart, well- 
dressed gentlemen were arranging their cloaks and swords by the pas- 
sage-way which had given entry to Richard and Jane, most of whom, at 
the sight of our heroine, stood still in admiration ; one of them, however, 
with the trained assui'ance of a rake, obsen'ing her to be veiy beautiful. 



112 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 

and a stranger, with only one attendant, accosted her in hinguage which 
made her blush and tremble. Richard's brow reddened with anger as 
he commanded the offender to leave the lady alone. 

"And who are you, my brave fellow.^" said the youth, with bold 
assurance. 

" Sirrah !" exclaimed Richard, forgetting his liveiy, " I am that lady's 
husband — her servant, 1 mean — ;" and here he stopped short in con- 
fusion. 

"Admirable!" exclaimed the intruder. "Ha, ha, ha! Here, sirs, is a 
lady's lackey who does not know whether he is his mistress's servant or 
husband. Let us give him up to the town guard." 

So saying he attempted to push Richard aside and take hold of the 
lady; but he had not time to touch her garments with even a finger 
before her protector had a rapier gleaming before his eyes, and threaten- 
ing him with instant death if he laid a hand upon his mistress. At sight 
of the steel, the bold youth ste{)ped back, drew his sword, and was pre- 
paring to fight when a crowd collected. His majesty's rejjresentative 
was at this moment stepi)ing out of the Parliament House, who ordered 
the officer of his guard to bring the parties before him. This order 
obeyed, he int^uired the reason of this disgraceful occurrence. 

" Why, here is a fellow, my lord," answered the youth who had insult- 
ed the lady, " who says he is the husband of a lady whom he attends as 
a liveryman, and a lady too, the bomiiest, I dare say, that has been seen 
in Scotland since the days of Queen Magdaline." 

"And what matters it to you," said the officer, "in what relation this 
man stands to his lady .' Let the parties come forward and tell their 
own story." 

The lords in attendance were now gathering around, all eager to see 
the bonnie lady. Lord Wigton was in the number. When he saw his 
daughter in this unexpected place, he was so astounded that he came 
near to fainting and falling from his horse. It was some minutes before 
he could speak, and his first ejaculation was — 

"O Jane! Jane! what's this i/e't?e been aboof? and what's brocht ye 
here ?" 

" Oh Heaven ha'e a care o' us !" exclaimed another venerable peer at 
this juncture, who had just come up, "and what's brocht my sonsie son 
Richard Livingston to Edinburgh, when he should have heeufechten the 
Dutch in Pennsylvania?" 

And here suffer me to remark, that this same Richard Livingston (a 
progenitor of the respectable families who liear his name in this state) 
was the second son of Robert, Earl of Linlithgow. Of course, having 
notliing to depend on but his head and his sword, he had joined a regi- 
ment under orders for America; but iiearing the fiime of Jane's beauty, 
by bribing a servant who concealed him in the garden, got sight of her 
as she was watering her pots of jjrinnose and polyanthus. He imme- 
diately lefl the army and assumed the disguise by which he insinuated 
himself into the good graces of her father. 

The two lovers being thus lecoguized by both their parents, stood, 
with downcast eyes, perfectly silent, while all was buzz and confusion 
around them ; for those concerned were not more surprised at the aspect 
of their affairs than were all the rest at the Iteauty of the fiu--famed but 
hitherto unseen Lady Jane Fleming. The Earl of I/uditligow, Richard's 
father, was the first to speak ;doud ; and this he did in a laconic though 
important query, which he couched in the simple words — 

"Are you married, bairns P^ 

"Yes, dearest father," said his son, gathering coui'age and going up 



ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 113 

close to his saddle-bow, " and I beseech you to extricate us from this 
crowd, and I will tell you all when we are alone." 

" A pretty man ye ai"e, truly," said his father, " to be stayiiif^ at home 
and getting married, when you should have been abroad winning honors 
and wealth, as your gallant grand-uncle did with Gustavus, king of 
Sweden. However, since better may na^ be, I maun try and console 
my Lord Wigton, who I doot not has the warsl o' the bargain, ye. nc^er- 
do-weel .'" 

He then went up to Lady Jane's father and shaking him by the hand, 
said: 

" Though we have been made relatives against our will, yet I hope 
we may continue good friends. The youn^ folks," he continued, " are 
not ill-matched either. At any rate, my lord, let us put a good face on 
the matter before these gentle Iblks. I'll get horses for the two, and 
they'll join the ])rocession ; and the de'il ha'e me if Lady Jane dis na 
outshine the hale o' them." 

" ]My Lord Linlithgow," responded the graver and more implacable 
Earl AVigton, " it may suit you to take this matter blithely, but let me tell 
you it's a nnich more serious aft'air for me. What tliink ye am I to do 
with Kate and Grizzy now?" 

" Hoot toot, my lord," said Linlithgow, with a smile, " their chances 
are as gude as ever, I assure you, and sae will everybody tliink who kens 
them." 

The cavalcade soon reached the court-yard of Ilolyrood House, where 
the duke and duchess invited the company to a ball, whi(!h they designed 
to give that evening in the hall of the palace. When the company dis- 
persed. Lords Linlithgow and Wigton took their young friends under 
their own jirotection, and after a little explanation, both parties were 
reconciled. 

The report of Lady Jane's singular marriage having now spread 
abroad, the walk from the gate to the palace was lined with noblemen 
an hour before the time for assembling, all anxious to see Lady Jane. 
At length the object of all their anxiety and attention came tripi)ing 
along, hand in hand with her father-in-law. A buzz of admiration was 
heard around; and when they entered the ball-room, the duke and 
duchess arose and gave them a welcome, hoping they would often adorn 
the circle at Holyrood palace. In a short time the dancing commenced, 
and amid all the ladies who exhibited their charms and magnificent 
attire in that captivating exercise, none was, cither in person or dress, 
half so brilliant as Lady Jane. 

The posterity of Jane and Richard occupy the same lands and palaces 
at the present day. It is a name revered and held in high estimation all 
over Scotland, and I might add, wherever the name is known. Witness 
the venerable Chancellor Livingston, who administered the oath of office 
to Washington, the first and best of presidents, and who clieered the 
heart and strengthened the hands of Fulton by his counsel and money, 
till through their united exertions the first steam boat liirrowed the 
waters of the Hudson. 



15 



114 



KOBEllT U. LIVINGSTON. 




FITCH'S STEAM BOAT, 1788. 

The voyage from New York to AH)anA% of the first steam boat, opened 
tlic door to a progress for fhc hmnau race, ec|tiivalent, at one bound, to 
the march of ages. As early as 1787, the New York Legislature granted 
to John Fitch, the sole right of making and employing the steam boat 
by hinr invented. 

The annexed cut is a representation of Fulton's steam boat, finished 
in 1807. 




When it was announced in the New York papers that the boat would 
start from the foot of Courtl.uid street at Cyh o'clock on Friday morning, 
there was a broad smile on every face, as the inquiry was made, if any 
body would be Ibolish enough to go. There were twelve berths, all of 
which were taken, at seven dollars each, to Albanj'. A friend of Judge 
Wilson, one of the passengers, accosted him thus in the street, " John, 
will thee risk thy life in such a concern? I toll thee, she is the most 
fcaifvl ivildfowl living, and tiiy father ought to restrain thee." The boat 
"ran u[) to Albany in thirty-two hours, and down again in thirty hours. 



THOMAS LYNCH, JR. 



115 




A. c 



4/ ^ COO^ CL^ 



^ 



^L^yr 



^^(W^ii HOMAS Lynch was born in the parish of 
lfe\2s^J\ Pi*ince George, South Carohna, August 5, 
41'^^^ 1749, and was of Austrian descent. 
mh fath( 



'£ 



His 

■'ly^}- iciuier was a man of great wealth and influence ; 
'^^ and having early espoused the cause of the 
colonists, was a member of the first continental 
congress in 1774. He was a member of the body 
at the time of his death. Thomas, the son, at the 
age of thirteen was sent to England to complete his 
education. He graduated at Cambridge university, 
and subsequently studied law in one of the inns of 
the Temple and became a finished lawyer. He 
returned to South Carolina in 1772. He soon after- 
ward married a lady named Shubrick. After serv- 
ing in many civil offices of trust, in 1775 Mr. Lynch 
accepted a captain's commission. In 1776 he was 
elected to congress, Avhen he appended his signature 
to the Declaration of Independence. Towards the 
close of 1799, by the advice of his physicians, he 
sailed in an American vessel for the West Indies, 
in the hope of finding a neutral vessel there, in 



116 THOMAS LYNCH, JR. 

which to embark for Europe. He was accompanied 
by his lovely wife, but they never reached their 
destination. The vessel was supposed to have 
foundered at sea, and the ocean was the tomb of 
all on board. 

" The noblest of cemeteries is the ocean. Its 
poetry is, and in human language ever shall be, 
imwritten. Its elements of sublimity are subjects 
of feeling, not description. Its records, like a re- 
flection mirrored on its waveless bosom, can not 
be transferred to paper. Its vastness, its eternal 
heavings, its majestic music in a storm, and its 
perils, are things which are hard to conceive. But 
there is one element of moral sublimity which ex- 
presses the mind; and that is, that the sea is the 
largest of cemeteries, and all its slumberers. sleep 
without a monument." 

"It is a solemn thought, and a not less interest- 
ing one, that no one knoweth where his grave may 
be ! It is a thought calculated to awe into humility 
the pride of the human heart, that where our forms, 
now so full of life and vigor, shall in a few years 
be laid, probably there to remain until the final 
resurrection, sage nor philosopher can tell. In our 
humble grave-yard tours, we may oft have viewed 
it; and the flowers that shall bloom upon our graves 
may be planted by the hand of Friendship, and 
watered by the tear of Aflection. It is an occur- 
rence of no unusual character, when one stands 
amid the seclusion of the burying-yard, and knows 
not the fact that he moralizes on his own grave. 
Or it may be in the wilderness, yet untrodden by 
the foot of civilization, where the barbarian and 
the beast still preserve their sway. It may be be- 
neath the restless bosom of old Ocean, far away 
from the surface-foam, among the dark and quiet 
waters that course below. Again, it may be upon 
the battle-field, where " men in rude onset meet." 
Yes, reader, thou who this moment, perhaps, sittest 



THOMAS LYNCH, JR. 117 

at thy own fireside, mayest fall upon the blood- 
stained field where men have met in "the pride 
and pomp and circumstance of ^7oriOM5 war;" the 
waving flag, the nodding plume, the scarlet sash, 
the glittering uniform, and bristling bayonet and 
flashing sword gleaming amid the smoky cloud, 
fading — forever fading, upon your sight. The loud 
command, the iron tread of feet, the thunder of 
artillery, the groans of the dying friends and foes 
by whom you are surrounded, the half-breathed 
sigh of defeat, the loud huzzas of victory, receding, 
all receding from your ear — these may be your 
funeral anthem. 

"A feeling of solemnity and awe comes o'er the 
spirit, when we reflect that the spot to which we 
shall one day be so long consigned, is as uncertain 
as any other feature of man's destiny. Mystery 
here rules supreme; none dare dispute her reign. 
Upon this subject, speculation is indeed a dream." 



118 



THOMAS m'kEAN 




Sfe^^ESCENDED of Irish ancestry, was born in 

4'!^)) 1^*^^' ^^ New London, Chester county, Pa. 

i^i.%hy Being admitted to the bar at the age of 
>f? twenty-one, he rapidly rose to eminence in his 

^j^ profession. After previously serving his state 
in many important capacities, he was elected 
to the continental congress in 1774, in which body 
he continued until the ratification of peace in 1783. 
He was a zealous advocate of the measure for 
independence, and signed the Declaration with a 
joyful heart. From the period of the conclusion of 
the war until his death. Judge M'Kean was actively 
enff aired in Pennsvlvania and Delaware in various 
public services. Having been chief justice of Penn- 
sylvania for twenty years, in 1799 he was elected 
governor of that state, which office he held for nine 
years. He died on the 24th of June, 1817, in the 
eighty-fourth year of his age. 



ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 



119 






LORY will long encircle the names of snch 
men as Middleton. He was born at Mid- 
dleton Place, in Sonth Carolina, in 1743. 
At the age of twelve, he was sent by his father 
to England, where he graduated at Cambridge 
university with distinguished honors. After 
traveling on the continent, he returned to South 
Carolina in 1768. A year afterward, he married, 
and with his wife made a second tour on the conti- 
nent. Returning in 1773, he took up his residence at 
the family seat. In 1775 he was a member of one of 
the committees of safety of South Carolina. In 1776 
he was elected to the general congress at Philadel- 
phia, where he voted for and signed the Declaration 
of Independence. He retired from congress in 1777, 
and in 1778 was elected governor of his native state, 
but declined accepting the appointment. In 1779, 
on the invasion of South Carolina by the British, he 
joined Governor Rutledge in defending the state. 
In this invasion he lost a large portion of his im- 
mense estate. After the surrender of Charleston. 



120 ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 

he was taken prisoner, and as such remained at St. 
Augustine, Florida, one year, when he was ex- 
changed. Being again elected to congress, he re- 
mained in that body until 1782. After serving in 
his state legislature, he died on the 1st of January, 
1788, leaving a widow and eight children. 

Mrs. Middleton lived until 1814, and her old age 
was gladdened by seeing her children among the 
most honored of the land. She was a woman of 
strong mind and indomitable energy. 

How truly has it been said that there is an ad- 
mirable partition of qaalities between the sexes, 
which the Author of our being has distributed to 
each with a wisdom that challenges our unbounded 
admiration. 

Man is strong; woman is beautiful. 

Man is daring and confident ; woman diffident 
and unassuming. 

Man is great in action ; woman in suffering. 

Man shines abroad; woman at home. 

Man talks to convince ; woman to persuade and 
please. 

Man has a rugged heart ; woman a soft and ten- 
der one. 

Man prevents misery ; woman relieves it. 

Man has science ; woman taste. 

Man has judgment; woman sensibility. 

Man is a being of justice ; woman an angel of 
mercy. 



ROBERT MORRIS. 



121 




^-/^^rt^ 



ON of a Liverpool merchant, was born in 
Lancashire, England, January, 1734. His 
^^i^lp) fj^ther engaging in the American tnide, left 
(^Robert to the care of a relative, and settled at 
^^ Oxford, on Chesapeake bay. When Robert was 
^ thirteen, he also arrived, and was placed at 
a school in Philadelphia. At the age of fifteen, 
becoming an orphan, he was placed in the counting 
room of Charles Willing, of Philadelphia, by whose 
care he became a finished merchant. On the death 
of his patron Mr. Morris in 1754 formed a mercan- 
tile partnership with Mr. Thomas Willing. When 
the tragedy of Lexington had aroused the fiercest 
indignation of the people, Mr. Morris took an active 
part in public affairs, and in November of that year 
he was elected to the general congress, where his 
financial talents rendered his services invaluable. 

On the 18th July, 1776, he was again elected to 
congress. This was fourteen days after the adoption 
of the Declaration of Independence, but he signed 
it on the second of August following. As an in- 

16 



122 ROBERT MORRIS. 

stance of his patriotism, it may be mentioned that 
at the gloomiest period of the revolution, he loaned 
upon his own responsibility ten thousand dollars. 
This money materially assisted Washington in col- 
lecting together and paying the gallant band, with 
which the crossed the Delaware, and won the glo- 
rious victory at Trenton. Had Morris withheld 
that ten thousand dollars, how diiferent might have 
been the destiny of our country! 

In 1781, Mr. Morris, in connection with others, 
established a bank at Philadelphia, for the purpose 
of issuing bills entitled to public confidence. The 
government bills having become worthless, the aid 
this scheme rendered to the cause was incalculable. 
During the same year Mr. Morris was appointed 
general financial agent of the United States, or 
secretary of the treasury, a service which no other 
man could have so well performed. The Bank of 
North America was put by him into successful ope- 
ration, and it has been justly said that the campaign 
of 1781, which closed the revolutionary war, was 
sustained wholly by the credit of this individual 
merchant. 

Having: served in the convention that framed the 
Federal Constitution, and as a member of the first 
congress under its provisions, he was solicited by 
President Washington to become secretary of the 
treasury, but he declined. After serving a regular 
term in the United States senate, Mr. Morris retired 
from public life. He died on the 8th of May, 1806, 
in the 73d year of his age. He left a widow, with 
whom he had lived in conjugal happiness for nearly 
forty years. His wife was Miss Mary White, a sis- 
ter of Bishop White, of Pennsylvania. 



LEWIS MORRIS. 



123 





EWIS Morris was born at Morrisania, West- 
chester county, New York, in ]726. Under 
the law of primogeniture whicli then pre- 
vailed, as the eldest son, he inherited his father's 
manorial estate. At the age of twenty he gra- 
duated with honor at Yale college, after which 
he returned to his estate. His strong intellect, pre- 
possessing personal appearance, and great wealth, 
soon made him popular throughout the colony. 
Although at the commencement of the oppression 
of the mother country, he was not affected by it, 
yet sympathy for others induced him to risk all by 
uniting with the patriots of Massachusetts and 
Virginia. 

In April, J 775, he was elected to the second 
general congress, and took his seat in the May fol- 
lowing. During the summer of 1775, he was sent 
on a mission of pacification to the Indians on the 
western frontier. In 1776, being again elected to 
congress, he boldly advocated the proposition for 



124 LEWIS MORRIS. 

independence, and without faltering a moment 
signed the Declaration, for which he afterwards 
received the thanks of his state. Three of his sons 
served with distinction in the army, and received 
the thanks of congress. 

Mr. Morris in 1777 retired from congress; but he 
was constantly employed in public services in his 
native state until the adoption of the constitution. 
On the restoration of peace he returned to his almost 
ruined estate. His house was almost destroyed, 
his farm wasted, his large forest despoiled, his cattle 
carried off, and his family driven into exile by the 
invading foe. Verily those were times to try the 
patriotism of men. 

Honored by all who knew him, he died in Jan- 
uary, 1798, in the seventy-second year of his age. 

Mr. Morris was a man of great decision of cha- 
racter. How true it is, that vigor, energy, resolu- 
tion, and firmness of purpose carry the day. All 
men who have done things well in life, have been 
remarkable for decision; and it will be acknow- 
ledged that in the race of life, more fail for want of 
vigor than from lack of talent. " Is there one whom 
difficulties dishearten, who bends to the storm ? he 
will do little. Is there one who will conquer? that 
kind of man never fails. 



JOHN MORTON. 



125 





^/n ryworvTo^^^ 




'E was born near Philadelphia in 1724, a 
short time after the death of his father. 
His mother, who was quite young, took a 

# second husband, who became greatly attached 
to John, to whom he gave a good education. 
Mr. Morton in 1764 was appointed justice of 
the peace. Soon afterwards he was elected to the 
general assembly of Pennsylvania, and for a num- 
ber of years he was speaker of the house. In 1765 
he was a delegate to the "stamp act congress," 
and on the following year was made sheriff of his 
county. He was afterwards elevated to the bench 
of the supreme court of the province. In 1774 he 
was appointed a delegate to the general congress, 
and reelected during the two following years. His 
last election did not take place until some days after 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, 
but he had the privilege of signing it in August. 
He died in April, 1777, in the fifty-fourth year of 
his age. 



126 THOMAS NELSON, JR. 




5^^^^'->^/^' 




lORKTOWN, Virginia, has the honor of 
being the birth-place of Mr. Nelson, who 
was born on the 26th of December, 1738. 
.4^^ ~ was the eldest son, and in conformity with 
%:V the fashion of those times, he received his edu- 
^ cation in England, from whence he returned in 
1761. In 1774 he was elected to the house of 
burgesses of Virginia, where he took sides with the 
patriots. He was also a member of the first general 
convention of Virginia, in 1774, which elected dele- 
gates to the continental congress. In 1774 he was 
elected to the general congress, to which body he 
was reelected in 1776, where he was one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. On 
the appearance of a British fleet off the coast of 
Vir<»-inia, he was placed at the head of the militia 
of his state. He afterwards raised a volunteer corps 
and joined "Washington at Philadelphia. In 1779 
Mr. Nelson was again elected to congress. In May 
he once more resumed his services in the field, and 
collecting a large force proceeded to Yorktown, but 



THOMAS NELSON, JR. 127 

the fleet of the enemy returning to New York, he 
did not come in contact with the invaders. In 1781, 
General Nelson was elected governor of Virginia, 
when as both governor and commander-in-chief of 
the state militia, he placed himself at the head of a 
large force, and formed a junction with Lafayette, in 
order to check the progress of Cornwallis. Mainly 
with his own funds he kept his force together until 
the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was 
present at the siege of that place, and although he 
owned a fine mansion in the town, he did not 
hesitate to bombard it. After the battle of York- 
town he retired from public life. He died on the 
4th of January, 1789, in the fifty-third year of his 
age. 



What a moment must be that when the last flutter expires on our hps! 
What a change! Tell me, ye who are deepest read in nature and in 
God. To what new world are we born ? What new being do we receive ? 
Whither has that spark, that unseen, that incomprehensible intelligence 
fied? Look upon the cold, livid, ghastly corpse that lies before you! 
That was but a shell, a gross and earthly covering, which held the im- 
mortal essence that has now left us; left to range, perhaps through 
illimitable space; to receive new capacities of delight; new powers of 
conception; new glories of beatitude! Ten thousand fancies rush upon 
the mind as it contemplates the awful moment between life and death! 
It is a moment big with imaginations, hopes and fears; it is the consum- 
mation, that clears up all mystery — solves all doubts — which removes 
contradiction and destroys errors. Great God! what a flood of rapture 
may at once burst upon the departed soul. The unclouded brightness 
of the celestial region — the solenui secrets of nature may then be di- 
vulged; the immediate unity of the past, the present, and the future; 
strains of imaginable harmony, forms of imperishable beauty, may then 
suddenly disclose themselves, bursting upon the delighted senses, and 
bathing them in immeasurable bliss! The mind is lost in this excess of 
wondrous delight, and dares not turn from the heavenly vision to one 
so gloomy, so tremendous is the departure of the wicked! Human 
fancy shrinks back appalled ! 



12S 



WILLIAM PACA. 




4aP^ (Pcuc-clD 




'MINENT as a statesman and a jurist, Mr. 
Paca took his place among the worthies of 
the day, by the suffrages of his country- 
men. He was the son of a wealthy planter of 
Virginia, and was born at Wye Hall, on the 
eastern shore of the state, in 1740. Having gradu- 
ated at Philadelphia college, he studied law, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1761. In 1762 he was 
elected to the provincial assembly of Maryland. 
He was a delegate from Maryland to the continental 
congress. Beinj? reelected in 1775, he continued 
a member of that body until 1778, when he was 
appointed chief-justice of the supreme court of his 
own state. He affixed his name to the Declaration 
of Independence in August, 1776. In 1782 he was 
elected governor of Maryland. After holding that 
office one year, he retired to private life. He died 
in 1799, ill the sixtieth year of his age. 



ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 



129 





NOWN universally by a long life actively 
devoted to the good of his fellow men, was 
born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1731. 

t"^ His maternal grandfather was Governor Treat, 
of Connecticut. His father was a clergyman, 
and his mother a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Treat, 
of Barnstable county. In addition to this advan- 
tageous moral position, Robert had instruction in 
letters from the worthy Mr. Lowell, the tutor of John 
Adams and John Hancock. Having graduated at 
Harvard college, for some time he was engaged as 
a teacher. Alter a voyage to Europe he studied for 
the ministry, and in that calling he attended as 
chaplain the military expedition to the north in 
1755. Subsequently he relinquished theology, and 
studying law with Chief- Justice Pratt, was admitted 
to the bar. 

Removing to Taunton, he early espoused the 
popular cause. After serving in the provincial as- 
sembly, Mr. Paine was elected in 1774 to the pro- 
vincial congress of Massachusetts. He, with two 

17 



130 ROBERT TREAT PAINE. 

others, was deputed by the general congress to visit 
the army of General Schuyler in the north, for the 
purpose of observation, which delicate commission 
was performed with entire satisfaction. Being re- 
turned a second time to the general congress, he 
voted for the Declaration of Independence, and was 
one of its signers. He died in 1814, aged eighty- 
four years. 

Mr. Paine was a very abstemious man, requiring 
no stimulant but that of a warm heart. "It is in- 
teresting to notice the different articles which have 
been taken by eminent men as stimulants to the 
mental faculties. It is interesting as showing how 
diametrically opposite means may produce the same 
effect in various systems; and it is interesting as 
showing how much the mind sympathizes with the 
body. Haller drank plenty of cold water when he 
wished for great activity of the brain; Fox, for the 
same purpose, used brandy. The stimulants of 
Newton and Hobbes were the fumes of tobacco; 
those of Pope and Fontenelle strong coffee. Dr. 
Johnson, at one period of his life, was a great wine 
drinker; but in the latter part of it found tea a good 
substitute. Don Juan is said to have been written 
under the influence of gin and water; and it is re- 
ported that Lord Brougham plies himself hard with 
port when he wishes to shine. Pitt was a great 
drinker of wine; Sheridan, also, was fond of his 
bottle. Dr. Paris tells us, that when Dr. Dunning 
wished to make an extraordinary display of elo- 
quence, he always put a blister on his chest a few 
hours before he was to speak, in order that it might 
irritate the brain by sympathy during his speech." 



JOHN PENN. 



131 




QyoA^ny >-/<:>7K?t--^ 




fENN was born in Carolina county, Virginia, 
,v^^^ May 17, 1741. When about eighteen years 
of age, his father died and left him a large 
estate. At the age of twenty-one he was ad- 
mitted to the bar. In 1774 he removed to North 
Carolina, where in 1775 he was elected to the 
continental congress. He discharged his duties in 
that body for three successive years, and eagerly 
signed the Declaration of Independence. After 
holding important trusts from the government of 
North Carolina, he died full of honors in September 
1788, in the forty-seventh year of his age. 



132 



GEORGE READ. 





wm 



EAD was a native of Cecil county, Mary- 
land, where he was born in 1734. He was 
L^"^iV the eldest of six brothers. His grandfather 



J^/y em iterated to this country from Dublin, Ireland, 



'- m 1726. 



^ At the age of seventeen George commenced 
the study of law at Philadelphia, and at the age of 
nineteen was admitted to the bar. He commenced 
practice at New Castle, Delaware. At twenty-nine 
he was appointed attorney-general for the lower 
counties of Delaware, which oflice he held until his 
election to the continental congress in 1774. He 
also served in the general assembly of Delaware for 
eleven consecutive years. Elected to the general 
congress, he was an earnest advocate of the De- 
claration of Independence, and rejoiced when he 
was permitted to place his name upon the parch- 
ment. After holding numerous other offices of trust 
and honor, he died in 1798, in the sixty-fourth year 
of his age. 



C^SAR RODNEY. 



133 





*AS born at Dover, Delaware, in 1730. On 
the death of his father he inherited the 
//pjyv¥ ^-^ paternal estate. In 17<'i5 when the "stamp 
%^ act congress" met in New York, he was elected 
^(^ a delegate thereto by a numerous vote. In 
1769 he was speaker of the Delaware provincial 
assembly, where he continued until 1774. In that 
year he took his seat in the general congress. He 
was one of the committee which drew up the de- 
claration of rights. In additional to his congres- 
sional duties, he acted as brigadier-general of his 
province. In 1776 he enjoyed the high privilege 
of signing the Declaration of Independence. After 
performing several important military duties, Gene- 
ral Rodney joined the main army of Washington 
when Lord Howe had landed at the mouth of the 
Elk river. Soon after this event Rodney was chosen 
president of the state, the arduous duties of which 
office he performed for about four years. He died 
in 1783 in the fifty-third year of his age. 



134 



GEORGE ROSS. 





^^-^"^ORN at Newcastle, Delaware, in 1730, 
''' received from his father, who was a 

worthy minister of the Episcopal church, 
a liberal education. Having studied law 
with his brother, he was admitted to the bar 
at the age of twenty-one, and fixed his resi- 
dence at Lancaster, where he married a Miss Law- 
ler. In 1768, he was elected to the Pennsylvania 
assembly, in which body he served several succes- 
sive years. Heartily espousing the cause of the 
patriots, he was one of the seven delegates represent- 
ing Pennsylvania in the convention for calling a 
general congress. He served in congress from 1774 
to 1777, during which time he was also regularly 
elected to the assembly. He signed the Declaration 
of Independence on the 2d of August, 1776. After 
acting as a successful mediator in difficulties with 
the Indians, he was in 1799, appointed admiralty 
judge for Pennsylvania, but in July the year follow- 
ing, he entered upon his immortal existence, in the 
fiftieth year of his age. 



BENJAMIN RUSH. 



135 




/J^/^J/:^<f<f-2^^>^^ 





|N eminent statesman, physician and writer, 

was born at Berberry, Pennsylvania, Dec. 

24, 1745. His grandfather was an officer 

in Cromwell's army, and who after the death 

of the latter, emigrated to America. 

When Benjamin was six years of age, he 
lost his father. His mother for the purpose of 
giving her sons a liberal education, sold her land 
and removed to Philadelphia. 

After completing his preparatory studies, Benja- 
min graduated at Princeton College at the age of 
sixteen. He then studied medicine under the 
celebrated Dr. Rodman of Philadelphia. In 1766, 
with a view to professional improvement, he visited 
Ensfland. In 1768 he went to Paris. In the au- 
tumn of that year he returned to America, with an 
increased stock of knowledge, and bearing the title 
of doctor of medicine, which had been conferred 
upon him at Edinburgh. 

Commencing practice in Philadelphia, he soon 



136 BENJAMIN RUSH. 

became universally popular, and after the war, 
students not only from all parts of the United States 
but from Europe flocked to Philadelphia to hear 
his lectures. 

In 1775 he was elected to the general congress, 
but declined. But when in 1776, some of the 
Pennsylvania delegates refused to vote for indepen- 
dence, the doctor, being elected, accepted and 
signed the Declaration on the second of August fol- 
lowing. 

In 1777 he was appointed physician general of the 
military hospitals. In the following year he was 
appointed president of the mint, which office he 
held fourteen years. Although eminent as a states- 
man, yet it is as a physician that he is more inti- 
mately known. He was professor of chemistry in 
the Medical college of Philadelphia; professor of 
the theory and practice of medicine and also of 
chemical science in the Medical college of Penn- 
sylvania. These he held during life. His active 
and benevolent mind left its impress upon several 
public institutions. He formed the Philadelphia 
dispensary in 1786, and was one of the principal 
founders of Dickerson college at Carlisle, Penn. 
He also held numerous offices in literary and scien- 
tific institutions both abroad and at home. He was 
a firm and inflexible patriot, a skillful and honor- 
able professional man, a profound thinker and 
writer, and a zealous Christian. He died April 17, 
1813, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 



A skillful, and judicious, pious pli3sician is capable of exei'ting an ex- 
tensive and most salulaiy influence in any community in which lie is 
located, lie can do more to stay the ravajros of intemperance than al- 
most any other man, because he can exhibit in a clearer lipht the delete- 
rious influence of the inebriating cup upon the health, the happiness, 
and the lives of those who partake of its poison. He can be an angel of 
mercy to families, who are suticring the pain of sickness or bereavement. 



BENJAMIN RUSH. 137 

He can, by timely warning, guard against the approach of disease, and 
preserve vahiable hves. lie can, by his example, show how much 
prudent living contributes to happiness and length of days. Ho has 
opportunities of commending the gospel in its renovating, comforting 
and sustaining power, which few possess. He is admitted to the cham- 
ber of sickness when others are excluded; he stands by the bed side of 
the dying when the spirit is taking its everlasting flight. He sees men 
in circumstances when pride and ])assion lose their sway; when thoughts 
of God and eternity are pressed upon their minds; when their refuges 
of lies are torn away, and when they feel the need of the promises and 
the consolations of religion. At such seasons how mucli may a pious 
physician accomplish for the spiritual welfare of his fellow men! How 
appropriately can he direct the mind of his sufiering patient to the great 
Physician of the soul ! 

But an irreligious, skeptical, passionate, ungodly physician is an awful 
curse upon any community. He mingles in scenes of sadness and sor- 
row, but has not one ray of spiritual comfort to impart to those who are 
bowed down by the weight of their afflictions. He sees his patient sink- 
ing and dying, but is not able to point them to that better and brighter 
world, 

" AVhere faith lifls up lue tearless eye," 

and a final and glorious emancipation is gained from sin and sadness 
and death. Physicians of this class make strong objections to the pre- 
sentation of the claims of the gospel to the minds of their patients. 
They urge the necessity of keeping them aloof from all excitement, and 
insist that their minds must not be disturbed by any alarming represent- 
ations of the future ; by this means, many distressed sinners have been 
left to die, without the efficacious remedy which the gospel furnished 
for their exigencies. It is a false view, utterly false, that a kind and 
appropriate exhibition of religious truth and the plan of salvation has an 
injurious influence upon those who are prostrated by disease. Their 
recovery is not jeoparded by fidelity to their souls. Not uufrequently, it 
is essentially aided, by relieving their minds of the distressing ap})rehen- 
sions which are forced upon them. 



18 



138 



EDWARD RUTLEDGE. 



^ 





CUC</^a,^<y^ 



'OT a few of the patriots of the revolution 
were of Irish descent, as was this individual. 
He was born at Charleston, South Caro- 
ina, in November, 1749. After completing- his 
-^, legal studies at the Inner Temple, London, he 
returned in 1772, and was admitted to the bar. At 
the age of twenty-five he was elected to the first 
general congress. He was reelected in 1775, and 
1776, and notwithstanding there were large num- 
bers of people in his state opposed to it, he fearlessly 
voted for and signed the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Some years afterwards he was placed at the 
liead of a corps of artillery, and in 1780, while 
Charleston was invested by the enemy, he was 
active in afiording succor to General Lincoln, at 
that time within the besieged city. But while at- 
tempting to throw troops into the city, he was taken 
prisoner and sent captive to St. Augustine, Florida. 
At the expiration of a year he was exchanged and 
set at liberty. After the evacuation of Charleston 
in 1781, Mr. Rutledge retired and resumed the prac- 



EDWARD RUTLEDGE. 139 

tice of his profession, and for a great portion of the 
following seventeen years was engaged in the state 
legislature, In that body he uniformly opposed 
every proposition for extending slavery. In 1794 
he was elected to the United States senate, and in 
179S he was governor of his native state. He died 
January 23, 1800, in the sixtieth year of his age. 



Eighty years ago, slavery existed in Massachu- 
setts; and was there practised, by some, as cruelly 
as now on the worst sugar plantations of Louisiana. 
Mrs. Child, in her History of Woman, says: "A 
wealthy lady residing in Gloucester, Mass., was in 
the habit of giving away the infants of her female 
slaves, a few days after they were born, as people 
are accustomed to dispose of a litter of kittens. 
One of her neighbors begged an infant, which in 
those days of comparative simplicity, she nourished 
with her own milk, and reared among her own child- 
ren. This woman had an earnest desire for a bro- 
cade gown, and her husband not feeling able to pur- 
chase one, she sent her little nursling to Virginia, 
and sold her, when she was about seven years old." 



140 



ROGER SHERMAN. 




SI 



7 



cnr 




?rxcvO'\^^ 




^ 
e 



UNSURPASSED in sterling patriotism, this 
remarkable man was a native of Newton, 
Massachusetts. He was born April 19, 1721. 
Two years afterward, the family removed to 
Stonington, in the same state, where the father 
of Roger died in 1741. Being then only nine- 
teen years of age, Roger had the whole care and 
support of a large family devolving upon him. He 
had served an apprenticeship to a shoemaker, but 
he now took charge of the small farm left by his 
father. At the end of three years the farm was sold 
and they moved to New Milford, Connecticut, 
where a married elder brother resided. This jour- 
ney Roger performed on foot, carrying his shoe- 
maker's tools upon his back, and for a considerable 
period he worked industriously at his trade there. 

Having enjoyed scarcely any advantages of edu- 
cation, he supplied the deficiency by acquiring a 
large stock of knowledge from books, which he 
studied during his apprenticeship. Having formed 



ROGER SHERMAN. 141 

a partnership in the mercantile business with his 
brother, at New Milford, he studied law during- his 
leisure hours, and he attained such proficiency, that 
in December, 1754, he was admitted to the bar. 

In 1755 he was elected a representative to the 
general assembly of Connecticut. He was subse- 
quently appointed county judge for Litchfield county. 
In 1761 he moved to New Haven, where he received 
the honorary degree of A. M., from Yale college, of 
which institution he was treasurer. The next year 
he was elected to the senate of the Connecticut 
legislature; and during the excitement relative to 
the stamp act, Roger fearlessly took part with the 
patriots. In 1774 he was elected a delegate to the 
continental congress, and was appointed one of the 
committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, 
which document, after its adoption by congress, he 
signed with a hearty good will. 

His first wife was Elizabeth Hartwell, of Stough- 
ton, and his second, Rebecca Prescott, of Danvers. 
He had seven children by his first wife, and eight 
by his last. He died July 23, 1793, in the seventy- 
third year of his age. 

It is probable that Rebecca Prescott was a de- 
scendant of the Mr. Prescott mentioned in the fal- 
lowing interesting letter, written in 1715, by the 
Rev. Lawrence Conant, giving an account of the 
ordination of the first minister ever settled over the 
old south parish in Danvers. The letter is a curi- 
ous relic of the olden time. 

"Ye governor was in ye house, and her majesty's commissioners of ye 
customs, and they set togetlicr in a liigh seat, by ye jndpit stairs. Ye 
governor a])pears very devout and attentive, although he favors episco- 
pacy, and tolerates ye quakers and baptists, but is a strong opposer of 
ye papists. He was dressed in a black velvet coat, bordered with gold 
lace, and buff" breeches, with gold l)uckles at ye knees, and white silk 
stockings. There was a disturbance in ye galleries, where it was filled 
with divers negroes, niulattoes and Indians, and a negro called Pomp 
Shorter, belonging to Mr. Gardner, was called forth and ])ut in ye broad 
aisle, where he was reproved witli great carefulness and solemnity. He 
was then put in ye deacons' seat, between two deacons, in view of ye 
whole congregation ; but ye sexton was ordered by Mi-. Prescott to take 



142 ROGER SHERMAN. 

him out, because of his levity and strange contortion of countenance, 
(giving scandal to ye grave deacons) and put liini in ye lobby under ye 
stairs; some children and a mulatto woman were reprimanded for laugh- 
ing at Pomp Shorter. While ye services at ye house were ended, ye 
council and other dignitaries were entertained at ye house of Mr. Epes, 
on ye hill near by, and we had a bountilid table, with bear's meat and 
venison, ye last of which was a fine buck shot in ye woods near by. 
Ye bear was killed in Lynn woods, near Reading. After ye blessing 
was craved by Mr. Garrish of Wrentliam, \vord came that ye buck was 
shot on ye Lord's day, by Pequot, an Indian, who came to Mr. Epes 
with a lie in his mouth, like Ananias of old; ye council thereupon re- 
fused to eat ye venison, but it was afterwards agreed that Pccpiot should 
receive forty stripes save one, lor lying and profaning ye Lord's day, 
and restore to Mr. Epes ye cost of ye deer; and, considering this a just 
and rightLOUS sentence on ye sinful heathen, and that a blessing liad 
been craved on ye meat, ye council all partook of it but Mi*. Shepard, 
whose conscience was tender on ye point of venison." 



ROGER MINOT SHERMAN, 

A nephew of Roger Sherman, died at Fairfield, Connecticut, in De- 
cember, 1844, in the 72d year of his age. lie entered Yale college in 
the year 1789, at which institution he graduated in 1792, with distin- 
guished rejjutation as a scholar. Among his elassmates were Judge 
Cl)ai)man, Judge Law, of Meredith, N. Y., C. Chauncey Esq., S. Lathrop 
Esq., and Mr. Eli Whitney. Alter leaving college, he taught school for 
a while in New Haven, while he was studying law. 

He afterwards became a tutor in Yale college, and Dr. Reecher, 
Thomas Day Esq., George Grithn Esq., Dr. Murdock, and S. P. Staples 
Esq., were among his pupils. He first selt'ed as a lawyer in Norwalk, 
and iuunediately took a high rank at the bar. He afterwards removed 
to Fairfield, where he ended his days. 

Mr. Sherman sustained many lionorable offices in the state. lie was an 
assistant under the old colistitution, and a member of the famous Hartford 
convention. Occasionally he was a member of tlie house of representa- 
tives, and for several years judge of the sujierior court. It might be 
added, that while a tutor in Yale college he made a profession of reli- 
gion, and was for many years a deacon in the church at Fairfield. 

Some years ago Roger M. Sherman, and Perry Smith, of Rhode Island, 
were opposed to each other as advocates in an iuiportant case before a 
a court of justice. Smith opened with a violent and foolish tirade 
against Sherman's political character. Sherman rose very composeilly 
and remarked: "I shall not discuss politics with Mr. Smith beibrc this 
court, but I am perfectly willing to argue questions of law, chop logic, 
or even to split hairs with him." "Split that then," said Smith, at the 
same time pulling a short, rough looking hair from his head, and handing 
it over to Sherman. " May it please the honorable court," retorted Sher- 
man, as quick as lightning, "I didn't say bristles." 



JAMES SMITH. 



143 






■R. Smith was a native of Ireland, and was 
brought by his father to Aaierica when 
quite young. He was born about the year 
17:20. His father, who with a large family of 
children settled on the Susquehanna river, 
died there in 1761. James was taught Greek, 
Latin and surveying. He afterwards studied law, 
and on being admitted to the bar, he removed west, 
where he practised law and surveying. He married 
Miss Eleanor Amor, of Newcastle, Delaware, and 
became a permanent resident of York, where he 
stood at the head of the bar until the storm of the 
revolution burst forth. He spoke out fearlessly 
against British oppression, and when the Pennsyl- 
vania delegates who refused tb vote for indepen- 
dence, withdrew from congress, he with Clymer and 
Rush was substituted, and signed the Declaration 
on the 2d of August. After the disasters of Brandy- 
wine and Germantown, he again entered congress. 
But when the rainbow appeared in the dark cloud 
at the battle of Monmouth, he retired and resumed 
his professional business. He died on the 11th of 
July, 1806, aged ninety years. 



144 



RICHARD STOCKTON. 




i^UJ^ 





'N or about the year 1666, the great-grand- 
father of this patriot came from England and 
;ttled upon Long Island. He afterwards 
rchased a large tract of land at Princeton, 
!W Jersey, where with a few others he com- 
menced a settlement. Richard was born upon 
the Stockton manor, October 1st, 1730. Having 
graduated at New Jersey college in 1748, he studied 
law with the Hon. David Ogden, of Newark. Being 
admitted to the bar in 1754, he rapidly rose to dis- 
tinction. 

In 1766 Mr. Stockton visited England. On his 
return in 1767 he was escorted to his residence by 
the people, which shows how greatly he was be- 
loved. After holding other offices, he was elected 
to the general congress in 1776, and took his seat 
in time to participate in the dispute upon the pro- 
position for independence. Although at first doubt- 
ful of the expediency of an immediate declaration, 
after hearing the arguments in its favor, he cheer- 



RICHARD STOCKTON. 145 

fully signed that glorious document. Declining 
other honors, he was reelected to congress, of which 
he was an active and influential member. 

Soon after his return from a delicate mission to 
visit the northern army under General Schuyler, he 
was taken prisoner by the British, who treated him 
with great severity. lie was subsequently ex- 
changed, but his life fell a sacrifice to the ill-usage 
he had received. He died February 28, 1781, in the 
fifty-first year of his age. He was first placed in 
the common jail at Amboy, and afterwards removed 
to the old prison house in New York city. 

The followiug reminiscences of the old Sugar 
House Prison, which formerly stood in Liberty street, 
is from the pen of Grant Thorburn. 

When ages shall have minffled with those which have gone before the 
flood, the spot on which stood tiiis prison will be sought for with more 
than antiquarian interest. It was founded in 1689, and occu{)icd as a 
sugar refining manufactory till 1776, when Lord Howe converted it 
into a place of confinement for the American prisoners. 

It was a dark stone building, grown gray and rusty with age, withfsmall, 
deep, windows, exhibiting a dungeon-like aspect, and transporting the 
memory to scenes of former days, when the revolution poured its deso- 
lating waves over the fairest portion of om- country. It was five stories 
high; and each story was divided into two dreary apartments, with 
ceilings so low, and the light from the windows so dim, that a stranger 
would take the place for a jail. On the stones in the walls, and on many 
of the bricks under the office windows, were still to be seen initials and 
ancient dates, as if done with a penknife or nail ; this was the work of 
many of the American prisoners, who adopted this, among other means, 
to while away their weeks and years of long monotonous, confinement. 
There is a strong jail-like door opening on Liberty street, and another 
on the southeast, descending into a dismal cellar, scarcely allowing the 
mid-day sun to peep through its window-gratings. When I first saw 
this building — some fifty years ago — there was u walk, nearly broad 
enough for a cart to travel roimd it; but, of late years, a wing has been 
added to the northwest end, which shuts up this walk, where, for many 
long days and nights, two British or Hessian soldiers walked their weary 
rounds, guarding the American prisoners. For tliirty years after I 
settled in Liberty street this house was often visited by one and another 
of those warworn veterans — men of whom the present political world- 
lings are not worthy. I often heard them repeat the story of their 
sufterings and sorrows, but always with grateful acknowledgments to 
Him who guides the destinies of men as well as of nations. 

One morning, when returning from the old Fly market at the foot of 
Maiden lane, I noticed two of those old soldiers in tlie Sugar House 
yard; they had only three legs between them — one having a wooden 
leg. I stopped a moment to listen to their conversation, and as they were 
slowly moving from the yard, said I to them — 

19 



146 RICHARD STOCKTOX. 

"Gentlemen, do either of you remembei- this lHiihlii)<^P" 

"Aye, indeed; I shall never forget it," replied he of tlic one leg. "J^or 
twelve months that dark hole," pointing to the cellar, " was my only 
home. And at that door 1 saw tlie corpse of my brother thrown into 
the dead cart among a heap of others who had died in the night pre- 
vious of the jail fever. While the fever was raging, we were let out in 
companies of twenty, for half an hour at a time, to breathe the fresh 
air; and inside we were so crowded that we divided om- number into 
squads of six each. Number one stood ten minutes as close to the 
window as they could crowd to catch the cool air, and then stepped 
back, when number two took their places; and so on. Scats we had 
none; and our beds were but straw on the floor, with vermin inter- 
mixed. And there," continued he, pointing witli his cane to a brick in 
the wall, "is my kill-time work — 'A. V. S. 1777,' viz. Abraham Van 
Sickler — which I scratched with an old nail. When ])eace came, some 
learned the fate of their fathers and brothers from such initials." 

My house being near by, I asked them to step in and take a bite. In 
answer to my inquiry as to how he lost his leg,^ he related the following 
circumstance: 

" In 1777," said he, " I was quartered at Belleville, N. J , with a ]iart of 
the army under Colonel Cortlandt. General Howe had possession of 
New York at the same time, and we every moment exi)ected an attack 
from Henry Clinton. Delay made us less vigilant, and we were sur- 
prised, deibated, and many slain and made prisoners. We marched 
from Newark, crossing the Passaick and Hackensack rivers in boats. 
The road through the swamp was a corduroy, that is, pine trees laid 
sidg liy side. 

" We were confined," he continued, " in this Sugar House, with hun- 
dreds who had entered before us. At that time the Brick Meeting 
House, the North Dutch Church, the Protestant Church in Pine street, 
were used as jails for the prisoners; while tlie Scotch Presbyterian 
Church in Cedar street, now a house of mercliandise, was occupied as 
an hospital for the Hessian soldiers, and the Middle Dutch Church for 
a riding school for their cavalry. I well remeiid)er it was on a sabbath 
morning — as if in contempt of Him whose house they were desecrating 
— that they first commenced their riding operations in said church. On 
that same day a vessel from England arrived, laden with powder, ball, 
and other munitions of war. She dropped anchor in the East river; 
opposite the foot of Maiden lane. The Aveather was warm, and a 
thunder storm came on in the afternoon. The ship was struck i)y a 
thunder bolt from Heaven. Not a vestige of the crew, stores, or equip- 
ment was ever seen at\er that. Tljc good whigs and Americans, all 
over the country, said that the God of battle had pointed that thimder 
bolt. 

"We were crowded to excess," continued the old veteran; "our 
provisions l)ad, scanty and unwholesome, and the fever raged like a 
pcstiloice. For many weeks the dead cart visited us every morning, 
into which from eight to twelve corjises were thrown, piled up like 
sticks of wood, with the same clothes they had worn for months, and in 
which they had died, and olten before the body was cold. Tints, eveiy 
day expecting death, I made uj) my mind to esca|)e, or die in the at- 
tempt. The yard was surrounded by a close board-lence nine feet 
high. I informed my friend here of )ny intention, and he readily 
agreed to follow my plan. The day previous, we placed an old barrel, 
which stood in the yard, against the fence, as if by accident. Seeing 
the barrel was not removed the next day, we resolved to make tl)e 



RICHARD STOCKTON. 147 

attempt that afternoon. The fence \ve intended to scale was on the side 
of the yard nearest to the East river; and our intentions were, if we 
succeeded in getting over, to make for the river, seize the first boat we 
couhl find, and push for Long island. 

" Two sentries walked around the building day and night, always 
meeting and passing each other at the ends of the prison. They were 
only about one minute out of sight, and during this minute we mounted 
the barrel and cleared the fence. I dropped iijjon a stone and broke my 
leg, so that I lay still at the bottom of the fence outside. We were 
missed inuiiediately, and pursued. Tiiey stopped a moment to examine 
my leg, and this saved my fi-iend ; for by the time they reached the 
water's edge at the foot of Maiden lane, he was stepping on shore at 
Brooklyn, and thus got clear. I was carried into my old quarters, and 
rather tiu'own than laid on tlie floor, under a shov>'er of curses. 

" Twenty-four hours elapsed ere I saw the doctor. My leg by this 
time had become so much swollen that it could not be set. Mortification 
immediately commenced, and ami)tutation soon followed. Thus, being 
disabled Irom serving either friend or Ibe, I was liberated, through 
the influence of a distant relative, a royalist. And now I live as I can, 
on my pension, and with the help of my friends." 

In 1812, Judge Schuyler, of Belleville, showed me a musket ball 
which then lay imbedded in one of his inside window shutters, which 
was lodged there on that latal night, thirty-five years previous. 

Among the many who visited this prison forty years ago, I one day 
observed a tall, thin, but respectable looking gentleman, on wliose head 
was a cocked-hat — an article not entirely discarded in those days — 
and a few dozen snow-white hairs gathered behind and tied with a black 
ribband. On his arm hung — not a badge, or a cane, nor a dagger; butu 
handsome young lady, who I learned from him was his daughter, whom 
he had brought two hundred miles to view the place of her father's suf- 
ferings. He walked erect, and had about him something of a military 
air. Being strangers, I asked them in; and before we parted I heard 

THE HISTORY OF THE PRISONER. 

"When the Americans," he began, "had possession of Fort Washing- 
ton, on the North river — it being the only post they held at that tiirie on 
York island — I belonged to a company of light infantry stationed there 
on duty. The American army having retreated from New York, Sir 
William Howe determined to reduce that garrison to the subjection of 
the British, if possible. Our detachment at that time was short of i)ro- 
visions, and as General Washington was at Fort Lee, it was a dithcult 
matter to supply ourselves from the distance without the hazard of 
interception from the enemy. There lived on the turnpike, within a 
mile of our post, a Mr. J. B. This man kept a store well supplied with 
provisions and groceries, and contrived to keep himself neutral, selling 
to both parties; but he was strongly suspected of favoring the British, by 
giving them inlbrmation, &c. Some of our officers resolved to satisfy 
themselves; and if they found their suspicions just, they thought it 
would be no harm to make a prize of his stores, esoeciidly as the troops 
were much in need of them. From prisoners, and clothes stripped fioni 
the slain, we had always a supply of British uniforms for officers and 
privates. Accordingly three of our officers put on the red coats and 
walked to friend B.'s, where they soon found that tlie color of their 
uniforms was a passport to his best affections and to his best wines. As 
the glass went round, his loyal ideas began to shoot forth in royal toasts 
and sentiments. Our officers being now sure of tl>eir man, 1 was one 



148 RICHARD STOCKTON. 

of a party wlio went with wagous and every thing necessary to ease 
him of ills stores. 

" Oil tlie ioliowing evening, that matters might pass quietly, we put on 
the British miifoniis. Arriving at tlie liouse, we inibrined lAIr, B. that 
the army were in want of all iiis store, hut we had no time to make an 
inventory, hcing ati-aid we niiglit he intercepted Iiy tlie Americans; hut 
]ic must make out his bill liom memory, carry it to the commissary at 
New York, and get his pay. The laiullord looked rather serious at this 
wholesale mode of doing business, hut, as the wagons were loading up, 
he found remonstrance would be in vain. In less than an hour his 
whole stock of eatables and drinkables was on the road to Fort 
Washington. By tiie direction we took, he suspected the trick, and 
alarmed tlie out-posts of the British army. In iifteen minutes we heard 
the sound of their horses' hoofs thundering along behind us; but tlu-y 
were too late, and we got in safe. He got his revenge, however; for in 
three days thereafter our fortress was stormed by General Kiiiphaiisen 
on tlie north. General Matthews and Lord Cornwallis on the east, and 
Lords Percy and Sterling on the south. So fierce and successful was 
the attack, that twenty-seven hundred of us were taken prisoners, and 
numliers of them, with myself, marched to New York, and lodged in 
the Crown street [now Liberty street] Sugar House. 

"It is impossible," he continued, "to describe the horrors of that pri- 
son. It was like a healthy man being tied to a putrid carcass. I made 
several attenijits to escape, but always failed, and at last began to yield 
to des|)air. I caught the jail-fever, and was nigh unto dcjitli. At this 
time I became ac(|u<iinted with a young man among the prisoners, tlie 
Avretchftdness of whose lot tended by com[)arison to alleviate my own. 
Ho was brave, intelligent and kind. Many a long and weary night he 
sat by the side of my bed of straw, consoling my sorrows and beguiling 
the dreary hours with bis interesting history. He was tlie only child of 
his wealthy and doting jiarents, and had received a liberal education; but 
despite of their cries and tears he ran to the help of his country against 
the mighty. He had never heard from his parents since the day he left 
their roof. They lay near to his heart, but there was one wiiose image 
was graven there as with the point of a diamond. He too, had the fever 
in his turn; and I then, as much as in me lay, paid back to him my debt 
of gratitude. 'My friend,' he would say to me, ' if you survive this 

deadly hob-, |iroiiiisc me you will go to the town of H . Tell my 

parents, and E'.iza, I perished here a captive, breathing tiie most fervent 
prayers for their happiness.' I tried to cheer him by hope, tecble as it 
was. 'Tell me not,' he would add, 'of the liojies of reunion; there is 
only one world where the ties of aliectioii will never break; and there, 
through the merits of Him who was taken from prison into judgment, 
lor our sins, I hoi)e to meet them.' 

"This crisis over, he began to revive, and in a few days was able to 
walk, l)y leaning on my arm. We were standing by one of the narrow 
windows, inhaling the fresh air, on a certain day, when we espied a 
young woman trying to gain admiltince. Aftjr parleying for some time, 
and placing something in the hand of the sentinel, she was permitted to 
enter this dreary abode. She was like an angel among the dead. After 
gazing eagerly around for a moment, she Hew to the arms of her recog- 
nized lover, pale and altered as he was. It was Eliza. The scene was 
affecting in the extreme. And while they wept, clasped in each other's 
arms, the [)risoners within, and even the iron-hearted Hessian at the 
door, cauglit the infection. She told liiin she received his letter, and 
informed his parents of its contents ; but not knowing how to return an 



RICHARD STOCKTON. 149 

answer witli safety, she had travelled through perils hy land and water 
to see her Henry. 

" Tills same Hessian sentinel had served ns our rations for months 
past, and from louif intimacy with the jnis^oners was almost considered 
a iViond. Eliza, who made her home witli a relative in the city, was 
daily admitted, by the management of this kind-hearted man ; and the 
small nourishing notio7is she brought in her pockets, together with the 
light of her countenance, which caused his to brighten whenever she 
appeared, wrought a cure as if by miracle. His parents arrived, but were 
not admitted inside. In a few days thereafter, liowcver, by the hei|) of 
an ounce or two of gold and the good feelijigs of our Hessian friend, a 
plan was concerted for meeting them. His turn of duty was fiom twelve 
till two o'clock that night. The signal, which was to lock and unlock a 
certain door twice, being given, Henry and myself sli])ped out, and 
cre[)t on our hands and knees along the back wall of the Middh; Dutch 
Church, meeting the ])arer:ts and Eliza by the Scotch Church in Cedar 
street. As quick as thought, we were on board a boat, with two men 
and four oars, on the North river. Henry pulled for love, I for life, and 
the men for a purse ; so that in thirty miiuites after leaving the Sugar 
House we stood on .Tersey shore. 

"In less than a month Eliza was rewarded for all her trials with the 
heart and hand of Henry. They now live not far from Elizabethtown, 
comfortable and ha])])y, with a tlock of olive plants around their table. 
J spent a day and night at their house last week, recounting our past 
sorrows and present joys." 

Thus the old man concluded; simply adding that he himself now en- 
joyed a full share of earthly blessings, with a grateful heart to the Giver 
of all good. 



Such is the unutterable love of woman! and yet how manv are there 
who trifle with it as a thing of little value. How beautifully is it set 
forth by a modern writer; he says, "If there is any act which deserves 
deep and bitter condemnation, it is that of trifling with the inestimable 
gift of woman's alTectioii. The female heart may be compared to a de- 
licate harp, over which the breathings of earlier afr'ections wander, until 
each tender chord is awakened to tones of ineffable sweetness. It is the 
music of the soul which is thus called forth — a jnusic sweeter than the 
fall of iountains of the Houri in the Moslem's paradise. But wo for tlie 
delicate lashioning of that harp, if a change ])ass over the love which 
first called Ibrth its hidden harmonies. Let neglect and cold unkindness 

sweep over its delicate strings, and they break one alter another 

slowly perhaps, but surely. Unvisited and unrequited by the light of 
love, the soul-like melody will be hushed in the stricken bosom — like 
the mysterious harmony of natiue, before the coming of tlie sunrise. I 
have been wandering among the graves. I love at all times to do so. 
I feel a melancholy not unallied to pleasure in communicating with the 
resting jdace of those who have gone before me — to go forth anion"- the 
thronged tondjstones; rising from every grassy undidation like ghostly 
sentinels of the departed. And when I kneel above the narrow mansion 
of one whom I have known and loved in life, I feel a strange assurance 
that the spirit of a sleeper is near me — a viewless and ministering 
angel. It is a beautiful i)hilosophy, which has found its way unsought 
for and mysteriously into the silence of my heart; aiul if it be only a 
dream — the unreal image of fancy — I pray God that 1 may never wake 
from the beautiful illusion." 



150 



THOMAS STONE. 




^^^'^^^NSHRINED in the memory of posterity is 
the memory of Thomas Stone. He was 
born at the Pointoin manor, Maryland, in 
1743, and at the age of twenty-one commenced 
-the practice of law. Having taken an active 
part in the movements preliminary to the call- 
ing of the first continental congress, in 1774, Mary- 
land sent him a delegate thereto. In 1775 he was 
again elected, and in 1776 he voted for and signed 
the Declaration of Independence. He retired from 
congress in 1778, and entered the legislature of his 
own state. In 1783 he was again elected to con- 
gress, and in 1784 he was appointed president of 
congress pro tempore. He died at Port Tobacco 
October 5th, 1787, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. 
His manners were unobtrusive, and his good sense 
and untiring industry made him a valuable member 
of community. 



GEORGE TAYLOR. 



lol 




JS^;^iEW men have displayed greater moral 



^^^y© courage than George Taylor. He was the 



n^„^ son of a clergyman. He was born in Ire- 
'^ land in 1716, and came to America in 1736. 
|i He was a good scholar, bat being poor, for 
some time after his arrival he performed menial 
services for a living. He then became a clerk in 
the iron establishment of Mr. Savage at Durham, 
in Pennsylvania. On the death of his employer he 
married the widow, by which he came into the 
possession of considerable property and a tliriving 
business. After acquiring a handsome fortune, he 
established iron works on the Lehigh, Northumber- 
land county. In 1764 he was elected to the colonial 
assembly, where he soon became a prominent actor. 
He was a member of the provincial assembly for 
five consecutive years. In 1775 he was elected to 
the provincial congress, and as a member of the 
general congress, signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence on the second of August, 1776. He died, 
much esteemed, on the 23d of February, 1781, aged 
sixty-five years. 



152 MATTHEW THORiNTON. 







^ rj^L^u^^ C^^ 



ALIANT in the cause of the oppressed, the 
name of Matthew Thornton stands ont in 
ij^ bold relief anion^ the orreatmen of his day. 
v>J\^ He was a native of Ireland. He was born in 
1714, and came with his father to America 
when about three years of age. After spend- 
ing some years at AViscasset, Maine, they removed 
to Worcester, Massachusetts, where the son received, 
an academical education. He subsequently became 
a physician, and commenced practice at London- 
derry, JNew Hampshire, where in a short time he 
became wealthy. 

In 1745, as surgeon, he accompanied the New 
Hampshire troops in the expedition against Louis- 
burg, a strong French fortress at Cape Breton. On 
his return Governor Wentworth appointed him 
colonel of militia; but early espousing the cause of 
the colonists, he soon lost the favor of that digni- 
tary. On the abdication of Governor Wentworth, 
Dr. Thornton was elected president; and on the 



MATTHEW THORNTON. 153 

organization of the provincial congress he was cho- 
sen speaker of the house. In September 1776 he 
was elected a delegate to the continental congress, 
and took his seat in November, when he was per- 
mitted to append his name to the Declaration of 
Independence. Having served an additional term 
in congress, he withdrew from public life, with the 
exception of acting as judge of the supreme court 
of his state. This office he also resigned in 1782. 

In 1789 he purchased a farm in Exeter, where as 
a practical agriculturist he spent many years. In 
his eighty-ninth year, on the 24th of June, while 
on a visit to his daughter, at Newburyport, he en- 
tered upon his immortal existence. The great se- 
cret of his long life was temperance and cheer- 
fulness. 



On the 31st of March, 1774, the British parliament passed an act for 
the punishment of the people of Boston for the destruction of tea in the 
harbor, on the 16th of December previous. It provided for the virtual 
and actual closing of the port. All imj)ortations and exportations were 
forbidden, and vessels were prohibited from entering or leaving that 
port. The customs, courts of justice, and all government offices were 
removed to Salem ; and on the arrival of Gov. Gage, a few days before 
the 1st of June, (the time the act was to take effect,) he called a meeting 
of the general assembly of Massachusetts, at Salem. Thus all business 
was suddenly crushed in Boston, and the inhabitants were reduced to 
great misery, overawed as they were by large bodies of armed troops. 
The other colonios deeply sympathized with them, and lent them 
generous aid. And, strange as at may appear, the city of London sub- 
scribed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the poor of Boston ! 



20 



104 



GEORGE WALTON. 




t:7^i/. 




^^HIS distinguished man was born in Frede- 
~" rick county, Virginia, in 1740, and Avas of 
humble parentage. At the age of fourteen 
he Avas apprenticed to a carpenter. He was 
imbued with an ardent thirst for knowledge, 
but his master, an ignorant man, considering 
George an idle boy, would not allow him to study 
by day, nor lights to read by night. But where 
there is a will, there is generally a way, and the 
youth procured torch lights, by which he spent his 
evenings in study. Thus in spite of every obstacle 
he terminated his apprenticeship with a well-stored 
mind. He then moved to Georgia, where he be- 
came a tolerable lawyer. In 177G, the assembly of 
Georgia declaring for the patriotic cause, Mr. Wal- 
ton was appointed one of the five delegates to the 
continental congress. He was a warm advocate of 
the proposition of independence, and voted for and 
signed the Declaration. On his retirement from 
congress in 1778, he was appointed colonel of a re- 



GEORGE WALTON. 155 

g^iment in his state, and was with General Robert 
Howe, of the American army, at Savannah, when 
Colonel Campbell besieged it. He was there seri- 
ously wounded in the thigh, and fell from his horse. 
He was taken prisoner, but afterwards exchanged. 
In October 1779, he was appointed governor of the 
state of Georgia. In 1780 he was elected to con- 
gress for two years, after which he was again elect- 
ed governor of his state. He was subsequently ap- 
pointed by the legislature chief-justice of the state, 
which office he retained until his death. In 1798 
he was elected to the senate of the United States. 
He died at Augusta, Georgia, February 2, 1804, in 
the sixty-fourth year of his age. 

What a lesson does the life of this excellent man 
afford to the young men of our country. It shows 
that there is nothing but what is physically or 
morally impossible, that can not be accomplished 
by perseverance. Who can measure the value of 
education! With truth has it been said that if the 
time shall ever come when this mighty republic 
shall totter, when the beacon which now rises in a 
pillar of fire, a sign and wonder of the world, shall 
wax dim, the cause will be found in the ignorance 
of the people. If our union is still to continue to 
cheer the hopes and animate the efforts of the op- 
pressed of every nation : if our fields are to be un- 
trod by the hirelings of despotism; if long days of 
blessedness are to attend our country in her career 
of glory; if you would have the sun continue to 
shed its unclouded rays upon the face of freemen, 
educate all the children in the land. This alone 
startles the tyrant in his dream of power, and rouses 
the energies of an oppressed people. It was intel- 
ligence that reared the majestic columns of our 
national glory; and this alone can prevent them 
from crumbling into ashes. 



156 



WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 





AS a native of Ivittery in New Hampshire 
N in 1730. Having received a coinmon- 



^>' school education, when quite younj^ he 
went to sea, which occupation he followed for 
several years. In 1759 he with his brother 
entered into the mercantile business at Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire. Having early espoused the cause 
of the colonies, he soon became a leader among the 
opposers of British tyranny. After serving as one 
of the committee of safety in the provincial congress, 
in 1776 he was elected to the continental congress, 
where in July of that year he voted for the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

Retiring from congress in 1777, he was appointed 
a brigadier-general of the New Hampshire militia. 
He was under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, 
and was one of the officers who conducted the 
British prisoners to Cambridge. After participating 
in the expedition against the British in Rhode Isl- 
land, General Whipple, with his brigade, returned 
to New Hampshire. In addition to several other 
offices of honor, in 1782 he was appointed a judge 



WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 157 

of the supreme court of New Hampshire. Soon 
afterwards, while summing np the arguments of 
counsel, he was suddenly attacked with a violent 
palpitation of the heart, which on the 2Sth of No- 
vember, ]785, while holding court, proved fatal. 
A post-mortem examination, in pursuance of his 
request, discovered that his heart had become ossi- 
fied, or bony. 

Art is long and life is fleeting, 
And our hearts, tlioMph stout and brave, 

Still like uiiitlled dnniis are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

Sensibility of the Heart. — The heart v\^as not the sensible organ 
which they would suppose it to be, endowed as it was with excessive 
irritability. 

The celebrated Harv^ey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, 
had an oj)portunity in his life-time of putting this question to the test. A 
young nobleman of the name of Montgomery, met with an accident by 
which there were torn away, or subsequently came away considerable 
portions of the ribs and parts covering the left side of the chest. This 
individual miraculously recovered, but with a pjrmanent opening in the 
thorax, exposing the left lung and the heart. 

On the case being made known to Charles L, he requested that Harvey 
might have an ojtportunity of examining this exti^ordinary case. Harvey 
called upon the young nobleman, and stated what his majesty's pleasure 
was; and the young nobleman immediately consenting, took off his 
clothes and exposed a large opening, into which Harvey could introduce 
his hand. Alter expressing his surprise, as they might su])pose he 
would, at the effort whicli nature had made at reparation, and that life 
could be sustained with all this exposure of the contents of the chest, 
Harvey took the heart in his hand, and put his finger on the pulse to 
ascertain whether it was really true that he had that most important 
organ within his gr.asp and s|)here of observation ; but finding the pulsa- 
tions of the heart and the wrist were synchronous, he was convinced 
that it was the heart. Wonderiid as it may appear, in touching it there 
was no sensibility, there was no pain ; the hciirt might have been squeezed 
in tha hand; and but from the circumstance of touching the young 
nobleman's clothes on his skin, he was not conscious that there was any 
pressure uj)on it. This proved that the heart was not so highly sensitive 
as then should have been led to think it was. Still, he hoi)ed that the 
relation of this case would not induce them to suppose that this organ 
could be roughly treated with impunit5^ He could assure them it was 
an organ full of sympathy. So far as its exterior was concerned, it was 
endowed with a high degree of sensibility ; and that for the wisest pur- 
poses; but its interior enjoyed it in a most exquisite degree. The in- 
ternal surface of the heart iimnediately sympathized with any disturbed 
condition of the system. If the held or stomach were affected, they 
knew full well that the heart could very easily be brought into intimate 
sympathy with it: therefore they were aware that it was a highly sym- 
pathetic organ. — Turner's Lectures. 



158 



WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 




c^^l^d'pn^r 




F Welch ancestry, the parents of Mr. Wil- 
ef^Sl^ Hams emigrated to America in 1630. The 
^S^ father and e^randfather of William were both 
clerjrynien. The former was for more than 
1^ half a century pastor of a conj^regational society 
at Lebanon, Connecticut, where the subject of 
this notice was born, April 18, 1731. Having- at 
the age of twenty graduated at Harvard college, he 
commenced the study of theology with his father. 
In 1764 he accompanied his relation, Col. Ephraim 
Williams, in an expedition to Lake George, during 
which the latter was killed. On his return he 
abandoned the study of theology, and commenced 
merchant. When twenty-five lie was chosen town 
clerk, wh ich office he held for nearly fifty years. He 
also for nearly half a century held a seat in the Con- 
necticut assembly. Li 1775 he was elected a dele- 
gate to the general congress. In that body he was 
an ardent supporter of the proposition for independ- 
ence, and signed the Declaration. 



AVILLIAM WILLIAMS. 159 

In 1784 he withdrew entirely from public life, 
having devoted his life and fortune to the service of 
his country, and winning the love and veneration 
of his countrymen. 

He was married, in 177 2, to Mary, the daughter 
of Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut; In 1810 he 
lost his eldest son. The event gave a shock to his 
infirm constitution, from Avhich he never recovered. 
He gradually wasted away, and a short time pre- 
vious to his decease, he was overcome with stupor. 
" Having laid perfectly silent for four days, he sud- 
denly called with a cleai^ voice upon his departed son to 
attend his dying father to the world oj spirits, and then 
expired F' He died August 2, 1811, aged eighty-one 
years. 



160 



JAMES WILSON. 





'AME from Scotland to America in 1766. 
Being well educated, he became an assist- 
ant teacher in the Philadelphia college. 
Shortly afterwards he commenced the study 
of the law, and at the end of two years, com- 
menced practice, first at Reading and then at 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1774 he was elected to 
the provincial assembly of Pennsylvania, and the 
next year he was sent to the general congress. 
Being reelected in 1776, he warmly supported the 
motion for absolute independence, and signed the 
Declaration. He also served in congress in 1782 
and 1785. He was also an active member of the 
convention that framed the Federal Constitution. 
He was subsequently appointed by President Wash- 
ington, one of the judges of the supreme court of 
the United States. 

After a life of labor for the good of his country, 
while on a judicial circuit in North Carolina, he 
died at the house of his friend Judge Iredell, of 
Edenton, August 8, 1798, in the 56th year of his 
age. He was a true patriot and a sincere Christian. 



JOHN WITHERSPOON. 



161 




^t^ ^^^^^i^c^t^/Co a>y/^ 




ESCENDANT of the great reformer John 
Knox, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, 
February 5, 1722. His father, a worthy- 
minister of the Scottish church at Yester, took 
^ great pains with the moral education of his son, 
whom he intended for the ministry. Having 
gone through a regular course of study, at the age 
of twenty-two, John became a licensed preacher, 
and was stationed at Beith in Scotland, Avhere he 
labored faithfully for several years. From thence 
he removed to Paisley, where he became renowned 
for his piety and learning. Accepting the appoint- 
ment by the unanimous vote of the trustees, of presi- 
dent of New Jersey college, he arrived at Princeton 
with his family in August, 1768, and on the 17th 
of the same month was inaugurated. On the inva- 
sion of New Jersey by the British, the college was 
broken up. In June, 1776, he was elected a delegate 
to the general congress, where on the second of 
August he affixed his signature to the Declaration 
of Independence. 

21 



162 ^ JOHN WITHERSPOON. 

At the restoration of peace in 1783, Dr. Wither- 
spoon retired from public life, with the exception 
of his duties as a minister of the gospel. His ener- 
gies were thenceforth directed to the advancement 
of the college over which he had presided. 

About two years previons to his death, he lost his 
eye sight, yet he did not relinquish his ministerial 
labors; but being guided into the pulpit would 
preach with greater eloquence and fervor than ever. 

He was twice married. By- his first wife, a Scot- 
tish lady, he had three sons and two daughters. 

Dr. Witherspoon was a sound theological writer, 
and as a statesman he had but few equals. He 
went to his reward on the 10th of November, 1794. 

"What an attractive, what a delightful, yet what 
a fearful spot is the pulpit. That preacher's breath 
is constantly touching some secret spring, that shall 
set mind after mind in motion, whose pulsations 
shall be felt when the scenes of earth are forgotten. 
It is but a single spot, yet it speaks to a thousand 
generations. The living testify to its influence, 
and generations of the dead lie scattered around it, 
who will one day rise up and bear witness to the 
mighty power which it has wielded. 



OLIVER WOLCOTT. 



163 




^^^yE was born at Windsor, Connecticut, Nov. 

SfeStf 26, 1726. His father v/as a distingnished 
^1^ man, and was at one time governor of that 
S state. 

Oliver graduated at Yale college in 1747. 
In the same year, having received a captain's 
commission, he marched to the northern frontier 
aorainst the French and Indians. On his return 
after the termination of hostilities, he gradually rose 
to the rank of major-general. He studied medicine 
with his uncle Dr. Alexander Wolcott, after which 
he held several important state offices. In the lat- 
ter part of the year 1775, Mr. Wolcott was elected 
a delegate to the second general congress, and he 
took his seat in January, 1776. He took a promi- 
nent part in the debates in favor of the independence 
of the American colonies, and after voting for, and 
signing the Declaration, he returned home. He 
was then appointed to the command of a detach- 
ment of militia destined for the defence of New 



164 OLIVER WOLCOTT. 

York. After the battle of Long Island, he resumed 
his seat in congress, and was in that body when 
they fled to Baltimore at the approach of the British 
toward Philadelphia in 1776. In October, 1777, he 
aided in the capture of Btirgoyne and his army, 
after which he again took his seat in congress. In 
1779, at the head of a division of Connecticut mili- 
tia, he successfully defended the south-western sea- 
coast of that state from the British. In 1796 he 
was chosen governor of Connecticut, to which office 
he was reelected in 1797. But on the first of De- 
cember of that year, his earthly career was closed. 
He was in the seventy-second year of his age. 
There seldom lived a better man. 



GEORGE WYTHE. 



165 





crra^^^^''^^r 




EORGE Wythe was born in Elizabeth 
county, Virginia, in 1726. His parents 
being wealthy he received a good educa- 
:ion. Bat when about twenty years of age 
was left an orphan, with a large fortune at 
his control. For the following ten years he 
launched into the sea of dissipation, seeking only 
his personal gratification. At the age of thirty, 
however, he suddenly changed, and resumed the 
studies of his youth with all the ardor of one re- 
solved to make up for lost time. But he mourned 
over the truth of the assertion, that " time lost is 
lost forever." 

Lost wealth may be restored by industry, the 
wreck of health regained by temperance, forgotten 
knowledge restored by study, alienated friendship 
smoothed into forgetfulness, even forfeited reputa- 
tion won by penitence and virtue. But who ever 
again looked upon his vanished hours, recalled his 
slighted years, stamped them with wisdom, or 



1(56 GEORGE WYTHE. 

effaced from the record of eternity the fearful blot 
of wasted time ? 

He at once commenced the study of the law, 
and beiug admitted to the bar in 1757, rose rapidly 
to eminence. He was not only an able advocate, 
but a strictly conscientious one, never knowingly 
engaging in an unjust cause. He was afterwards 
appointed chancellor of Virginia, which high office 
he held during life. For several years prior to the 
revolution Mr. AVythe was a member of the Virginia 
house of burgesses. In 1775 he was elected to the 
general congress, and was there in 1776, when his 
colleague Mr. Lee submitted his bold proposition 
for independence. He ably supported his colleague, 
and voted for and signed the Declaration. After 
holding humble offices in his native state, he was 
in 1786 elected to the national convention which 
framed the Federal Constitution. After its adoption 
he was twice chosen United States senator under 
it. He died on the 8th of June, 1800. His death 
w^as supposed to have been caused by poison placed 
in his food by a near relative. That person was 
tried for the crime but acquitted. 

Mr. AVythe was benevolent in the extreme and 
of unimpeachable character. 



CONCLUDING REMARKF. 167 



In closing these brief sketches of the lives of the 
noble band who affixed their names to the Declara- 
tion of Independence, we can not but be struck 
at the contrast between the years 1776 and ihat 
which has recently expired. The year 1848 has 
indeed been a year of wonders, in which the seed 
sown in blood by this infant republic more than half 
a century ago, has blossomed and borne fruit on 
the other side of the Atlantic. Tlie events of 184S 
will live npon the records of history, and on the 
memory of man while the earth shall last. A won- 
derful year has been 1848. Scarce had it dawned, 
when over the ocean came the voice of Europe, 
convnlsed with the throes of liberty beating against 
the dark and jagged rocks on which the tyrants for 
ages built their thrones and cast their nets of gyves, 
and whips, and chains, over the prostrate and 
groaning nations. Millions upon millions of free- 
men, where, 

" Westward the star of empire takes its way," 

hailed the voice, and fast upon the footsteps of its 
echoes the despotisms of France, Italy and Ger- 
many, were shivered to the dust. 

Poland heard the voice and was glad. She lifted 
up her hands seared with scars, and her trumpets 
brayed, and her banners flaunted in the face of the 
red-handed robber who had partitioned her fields, 
once the bulwark of Christendom against the lance 
of the Saracen. Poland heard the voice of France, 
Italy and Germany, and shouted back to them her 
rapture and her joy ; but, alas, her day was not yet 
come. She sits still, captive and bleeding among 
the nations. And Erin heard the voice by the side 
of her lakes and fountains, upon her hills and in her 
valleys, and the Celt-children of bondage, stricken 
and famished upon the richest soil under Heaven, 



IG8 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

looked out upon the lairs of their oppressors, and 
cried, Woe is unto us no longer; our day of deli- 
verance is come ! Erin heard it, and her sons lifted 
the brand, but their arms were skeleton and 
wasted, and when the tyrant came upon them with 
his fattened legions glistening in steel, which the 
sweat and blood of Erin had forged and polished, 
they were strewn and scattered like chaff before 
the wind. Erin's day was not come. Her prophets 
preached a gospel of peace which should have been 
a gospel of blood, and gaunter, paler and more hag- 
gard than ever, the Gem Isle sits on the place of 
her graves, the solemn wind moaning through her 
broken harp-strings to the solemn music of the 
ocean. Patience and faith, and a speedy deliver- 
ance be with them, twin sisters in desolation, Po- 
land and Erin ! Other years, not distant, shall wipe 
from their brows the Saxon and Sclave bond-mark 
of slaves. 

Nevertheless, 1848 has done bravely. She has 
opened up a crusade against kings and tyrants, 
which s\\}.\\\ not end until every soul on this round 
earth drinks of the fountain of freedom. Wonder- 
ful year! The Russian shall ponder over it among 
his ice-palaces; the Turk, Arab, Persian and Tartar, 
shall speak of it with marvel and terror, and as fresh 
shouts rise with the awakening spring, from Alp 
and Appenine, from the bright Shannon to the ar- 
rowy Rhone, the remnant of despotic power shall 
tremble and pass away. . Eighteen hundred and 
forl3^-eight was a year of jubilee to the nations. It 
saw the old world dissolving her bonds, while the 
new, in peace, freedom, wealth and power, ex- 
tended her hand and voice in encouragement and 
brotherhood. The earth will never behold a prouder 
year — never behold a year fraught with such bless- 
ing and promise to mankind. 




A 



"^""^^ J^^^C^^. 



^<^^ 



THE PRESIDENTS* 



< < • • > 




JAMES MADISON. 

'R. Madison, the fourth president of the 
United States, was born on the Rappa- 
hannock river. Orange county, Virginia, on 
The 16th of March, 1751. His family were of 
Welsh extraction, and were among the earlier 
emigrants to Virginia. Having gone through 
a preparatory course of study, Mr. Madison, at the 
age of seventeen, entered Princeton college, New 
Jersey, where he graduated with honor in 1771. 
After remaining at college a year after he graduated, 
he returned to his native state and commenced the 
practice of law. But the exigencies of the times 
soon drew him into active public life. In 1776 he 
was elected a member of the general assembly of 
Virginia, and in 1778 he was appointed one of the 
executive council of the state. On the following 
year he was elected a delegate to the continental 
congress, in which body he was an active member 
until 1784. In January, 1786, he was appointed 
a commissioner to the convention at Annapolis to 
amend the articles of confederation. He was also 
a member of the convention called for a similar 
purpose on the year following, and he was among 
the leading debaters. The copious notes which he 
took of the proceedings of this convention, have 
since been purchased and published by government, 
under the title of " The Madison Papers." 

A convention being called in Virginia for the 
purpose of considering the new constitution and 

* For sketches of the first three presidents, see pp. 9, 47, 96. 

22 



170 JAMES MADISON. 

devising- a more uniform commercial system, Mr. 
Madison was elected a member thereof. After a 
warm opposition, the question in favor of adoption 
was carried by a vote of eighty-nine to seventy-nine. 
Mr. Madison voting of course in the affirmative. 

In 1789 Mr. Madison was elected to congress, and 
was an active member of that body during the 
whole of Washington's administration. 

In 1794 he was married to Mrs. Dolly Payne Todd, 
a young widow of twenty-three. 

Having resigned his seat in congress, and being 
elected to the Virginia assembly, in 1797 Mr. Madi- 
son made his famous report against the alien and 
sedition laws of Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Madison, having through the whole of Mr. 
Jefferson's administration, held the office of secre- 
tary of state, was in 1808 elected president of the 
United States. He was inaugurated on the 4th of 
March, 1809, and he retained a portion of Mr. Jef- 
ferson's cabinet. 

During the first session of the eleventh congress, 
which opened in May, the British minister at Wash- 
ington, Mr. Erskine, made overtures for the repeal 
of the non-intercourse law, pi'omising the reversal 
of the British orders in council. His government, 
however, refusing to sanction the act, the non- 
intercourse law was revived in full force. This 
created the most intense excitement among the 
people, who loudly demanded a declaration of war 
with England. 

In the spring of 1810, Napoleon issued a decree 
providing that all United States vessels which had 
entered French ports since the 20th of March, 1808, 
should be declared forfeit, and sold for the benefit 
of" the French treasury. This being avowedl)^ issued 
as a retaliation of our non-intercourse act, the French 
privateers constantly depredated upon our commerce. 

In May, congress passed a new non-intercourse 
act, declaring that when either the British or French 



JAMES MADISON. 171 

government should repeal its orders or decrees, and 
the other did not, the United States would repeal 
the act so far as it applied to the government so 
repealing. France reciprocated the movement, but 
the British cabinet would not, and American ves- 
sels continued to be seized and sold, and American 
seamen pressed into the British service.^ 

After years of ineffectual negotiation with both 
England and France, respecting their orders and 
decrees, the president waived his decided opposition 
to war measures, and, by the advice of Mr. Clay 
and other leading friends, he recommended strong 
measures toward Great Britain. Bills were accord- 
ingly passed for augmenting the army and navy, 
and for giving the president extraordinary powers. 

Mr. Madison being again elected to the presi- 
dency, was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1812. 

Congress having passed an act declaring war 
against Great Britain, it was approved by Mr. Madi- 
son on the 18th of June, 1812, and he issued his 
proclamation accordingly. Of the thrilling events 
and glorious termination of that war, it is unneces- 
sary to speak. 

At the expiration of his second presidential term 
on the 3d of March, 1817, Mr. Madison retired to 
his seat at Montpelier, Orange county, Virginia, 
where the evening of life was spent in the peaceful 
pursuits of agriculture. He died on the 28th of 
June, 1836, aged eighty-five years. 

"Mr. Madison was of small stature, and a little 
disposed to corpulency. The top of his head was 
bald, and he usually had his hair powdered. He 
generally dressed in black. His manners were 
modest and retiring, and in conversation he was 
pleasing and instructive. As a polished writer he 
had few equals; and the part he bore in framing 
the constitution, and its subsequent support, obtain- 
ed for him the title of Father of the Constitution." 

* Lossing. 



172 



DOLLY PAYNE MADISON. 



DOLLY PAYNE MADISON. 

" Shall I ever jrrow old ?' said a fair little girl 

As she stood by a fond mother's knee, 
And tossed from iier forehead the clustering curls, 

And turned up her bonny blue e'e. 

"Will my face be all wrinkled with sorrow and care, 

And my pretty brown tresses turn white? 
Oh mother, I'm sine that I never could bear 

To become such a sad looking sight!" 

"Oh, yes, my dear child!" and the tears gathered fast 

As she s})oke, in the fond mother's eye — 
" The charms we so prize in our youth can not last. 

And wrinkles and age will draw nigh! 

"But the youth of the heart" — and the mother's dark eye 

Grew soft as the eye of a fawn — 
" May live in its greenness when age hath come nigh, 

And the rose and the lily are gone. 

'N Virginia the parents of Dolly Payne, who 
were natives of that state, ranked among the 
most respectable citizens. AVhilst on a visit 
to some of her friends in North Carolina, Mrs. 
Payne gave birth to her eldest daughter, the 
subject of this memoir, who, altliougli una- 
voidably born in another state, claims the title, so 
dear to all who possess it, of being a Virginian. In 
disposition she is abundantly so, being imbued by 
nature with all that amiable frankness and gene- 
rosity which are the distinguishing traits of the Vir- 
ginia character. 

Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Payne 
joined the society of Friends, manumitted their 
slaves, and removed to Pennsylvania. 

The subject of this memoir was educated in 
Philadelphia, according to the strict system of the 
society to which her family belonged. At an early 
age she was married to Mr. Todd, a young lawyer 
of Philadelphia, and also a member of the society 
of Friends. During his life she continued to live in 




DOLLY PAYNE MADISON. 173 

the simplicity and seclusion of that sect. Even then 
though her beauty, which afterwards became so 
celebrated, began to attract attention. Soon, how- 
ever, she was left a widow with an infant son. 
Soon after the death of her husband, her father also 
being dead, she returned to live with her remaining 
parent, who had fixed her residence in Philadelphia. 

The personal charms of the young widow, united 
as they were with manners frank, cordial and gay, 
caused her to become a general favorite; an object 
not onlv of admiration, but of serious and devoted 
attachment. Among many admirers, equally dis- 
tinguished for their rank and talent, who sued for 
her favor, she gave preference to Mr. Madison, then 
one of the most conspicuous and respectable mem- 
bers of congress; and in the year 1794 she became 
the wife of that truly great man. This marriage 
proved highly beneficial to Mr. Madison, for the 
strong mind and pleasing manners of his wife were 
essential aids to him while he was the chief maais- 
trate of the nation. When General Ross with four 
thousand men marched against Washington city, 
President Madison and his cabinet narrowly es- 
caped capture by flight. It is said that the pre- 
servation of the Declaration of Independence and 
other valuable papers, was owing to the courage of 
Mrs. Madison, who carried them away with her 
own hands. 

When the detachment of the British army sent 
out to destroy Mr. Madison's house, entered his 
dining-parlor, they found a dinner table spread, and 
covers laid for forty guests. Several kinds of wine, 
in handsome cut glass decanters, were cooling on 
the side-board ; plate-holders stood by the fire-place, 
filled witli dishes and plates; knives, forks and 
spoons, were arranged for immediate use; every 
thing, in short, was ready for the entertainment of 
a ceremonious party. Such were the arrangements 
in the dining-room, while in the kitchen were others 



174 DOLLY PAYNE MADISON. 

answerable to them in every respect. Spits loaded 
with joints of various sorts turned before the fire; 
pots, sauce-pans, and other culinary utensils, stood 
upon the grate; and all the other requisites for an 
elegant and substantial repast, were in the exact 
state Avhich indicated that they had been lately 
and precipitately abandoned. The reader may 
easily believe that these preparations were beheld 
by a party of hungry soldiers with no indifferent eye. 
An elegant dinner, although considerably over- 
dressed, was a luxury to which few of them, at least 
for some time back, had been accustomed; and 
which, after the dangers and fatigues of the day, 
appeared peculiarly inviting. They sat down to it, 
therefore, not indeed in the most orderly manner, 
but with countenances which would not have dis- 
graced a party of alderman at a civic feast; and, 
having satisfied their appetites with fewer com- 
plaints than would have probably escaped their 
rival gourmands, and partaken pretty freely of the - 
wines, they fitiished by setting fire to the house 
which had so liberally entertained them. 

Mrs. M. still survives her honored husband, and re- 
sides chiefly at Washington, where her society is 
sought by all the distinguished visitors to the me- 
tropolis. 





'/^^^yZ?r^t'^t>^ 



JAMES MONROE. 175 




JAMES MONROE. 

,HE fifth president of the United States, was 
born in the county of Westmoreland, Vir- 
ginia, on the 2d of April, 1759. His parents 
P were both descended from one of the earliest 
^^ and most respectable families of that state. 
^ The early youth of James was spent amid the 
excitements which intervened between the passage 
of the stamp act, and the breaking out of the revo- 
lution. Fired by the stirring scenes around him, 
at the age of eighteen, he left William and Mary 
college, and joined the continental army under 
Washington. He Avas present at the skirmish at 
Harlem on York island, and at the battle of White 
Plains. At Trenton he received a bullet wound 
which scarred him for life. For his brave conduct 
he was promoted to the rank of captain of infantry. 
In 1777 and 1778 he acted as aid to Lord Stirling, 
and behaved bravely at the battles of Brandywine, 
Germantown and Monmouth. He subsequently 
commenced the study of law under Mr. Jefferson. 
At a later period, when invasion was threatened, 
Captain Monroe was found among the volunteers, 
and performed important services to his country. 

In 1782, he was elected a member of the Virginia 
legislature, and was soon after chosen by that body 
a member of the executive council. The following 
year, although only twenty-five years of age, he was 
chosen a delegate to represent Virginia in the con- 
tinental congress. He was present when Washing- 
ton surrendered his commission to that body; and 
he continued to represent his state there until 1786. 

During his attendance at New York as a member 
of congress, he became acquainted with and mar- 
ried the daughter of Mr. L. Kortright, celebrated in 
the fashionable circles of London and Paris for her 



176 JAMES MONROE. 

beauty and accomplishments. She was a most 
estimable woman, in both public and private lite. 

In 1785, he took the incipient step in congress 
toward the framing of a new constitution, by moving 
to invest congress with the power of regnlating 
trade and of levying an import-duty. These move- 
ments finally brought about the convention to re- 
vise the articles of confederation. 

"According to a rule of the old continental con- 
gress, a member of that body was ineligible for a 
second term; and when, in 1786, Mr. Monroe's 
term expired, he retired to Fredericksburg, with a 
view of practising law. But he was soon after 
elected a member of the Virginia legislature ; and 
in 1788, he was chosen a delegate to the state con- 
vention to decide upon the adoption of the consti- 
tution. Not being satisfied with that instrument, 
although conscious of the inefficiency of the articles 
of confederation, he opposed its adoption. In 3 780, 
he was elected to a seat in the senate of the United 
States, in which station he continued until 1794, 
always acting with the anti-federalists, and opposed 
to AVashington's administration. 

In J 794, he was appointed to succeed Governeur 
Morris as minister to France, but not conforming 
to Washington's views, he was recalled in 1796. 
In 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia, and 
served the constitutional term of three years. In 
1803, Mr. Jefierson appointed him envoy extraor- 
dinary to France, to act with Mr. Livingston, and 
he was a party to the treaty for the cession and 
purchase of Louisiana. Disputes concerning bound- 
aries having occurred with Spain, he went to Mad- 
rid to settle the difficulty, but he was unsuccessful. 
In 1807, he and Mr. Pinckney negotiated a treaty 
with Great Britain, but it proved unsatisfactory, 
and was never ratified; and during the year he 
returned to the United States." 

In 1811, Mr. Monroe was again elected governor 



JAMES MONROE. 177 

of Virginia, but was soon after appointed by Mr. 
Madison secretary of state, which office he held 
during Madison's administration. After tlie capture 
of Washington, he took charge of the war depart- 
ment (still remaining secretary of state), and in that 
position he exhibited great energy. 

Mr. Monroe was elected president of the United 
States in 1816, and was inaugurated on the 4th of 
March, 1817. Impressed with the necessity of 
frontier defences, he started in May on a tour of 
inspection — ^extending eastward as fiir as Portland, 
in Maine, northward to the St. Lawrence, and west- 
ward to Detroit. He was absent about six months, 
and was every where greeted with distinguished 
honors. 

In 1820, Mr. Monroe was reelected president with 
great unanimity. 

On the 3d of March, 1825, Mr. Monroe retired 
from the presidential chair, his administration hav- 
ing been an eminently harmonious and prosperous 
one. He retired to his residence in Loudon county, 
in Virginia, where he resided until 1831, when he 
removed to the city of New York and took up his 
residence with his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouver- 
nenr. He was soon after seized with severe illness; 
and on the 4th of July, 1831, he expired, in the 
seventy-second year of his age, making the third 
president who had died on the national anniversary. 

Mr. Monroe was about six feet high and well 
formed, with light complexion and blue eyes. 
Honesty, firmness, and prudence, rather than supe- 
rior intellect, were stamped upon his countenance. 
He was industrious and indefatigable in labor, 
Avarm in his friendships, and in manners was a 
good specimen of the old Virginia gentleman. His 
long life was honorable to himself and useful to his 
country.^ 

* Lossiug. 

23 




178 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

^jOURTEEN years after the May Flower 

anchored by Plymouth rock, another ves- 

f, v-^ sel, filled with no less distinguished adven- 

B turers, touched upon the New England coast, 

^"i near Boston. In the former came John Alden, 

one of the ancestors of John Quincy Adams; 

in the latter, Henry Adams, with a large family, 

the first of the name that came to this country ."^ 

They settled at Mount Wollaston, which was, at 
first, annexed to Boston in 1634, for the special 
benefit of the new colonists, but afterwards in 1640, 
it became incorporated as a separate town, by the 
name of Braintree. Henry Adams, junior, was for 
several years town clerk, and the first of the family 
elected to a civil office in America. 

His youngest brother, Joseph, Avho resided in the 
same town, left ten children. One of them, bearing 
the paternal name, married the grand-daughter of 
John Alden, of the Plymouth colony. His second 
son was the father of John Adams, who succeeded 
Washington as president of the United States, and 
who was the father of the distinguished man whose 
name stands at the head of this page. 

John Quincy Adams was, therefore, a descendant 
in the lifth generation of Henry Adams, who was 
driven by persecution from Devonshire, England, 
in 1634, and among the earliest colonists of New 
England. On his mother's side, as above shown, 
he was a descendant of John Alden of the May 
Flower. 

It would be difficult to conceive of events better 
suited to produce a great man, than conspired in 
the ancestry, birth and education of the subject of 
this brief sketch. 

* Literary Magazine. 




^j S, t^cLcofy^ 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 179 

Born in the summer of 1767, at Brain tree, Massa- 
chusetts, of illustrious parents, and of ancestors 
alike venerable and distinguished for the common 
pursuit of freedom, at a period when liberty and 
bondage were each struggling for the mastery on 
the soil of New England, he early imbibed that 
liberal and patriotic spirit, for which he was cele- 
brated in mature age. 

Blessed as he was with a distinguished father, it 
was his good fortune also to enjoy the early instruc- 
tions of a most accomplished mother. 

Such were the benign influences which guarded 
his childhood. He grew up at home, in the enjoy- 
ment of every advantage which wealth could be- 
stow, until the age of eleven, when he accompanied 
his father to France. He remained there eighteen 
months, enjoying, at that early age, the advantages 
of a foreign court, together with the special favor 
and friendship of Doctor Franklin. Though at this 
time but a mere boy, he possessed an observing 
mind, and profited much by what he saw and heard. 
He returned home with his father in the summer 
of 1779. In November of the same year he again 
sailed for France with his flither, in the French 
frigate La Sensible, which, having sprung a leak, 
was obliged to put in to port at Ferrol, in Spain. 
Thence they journeyed by land, and reached Paris 
in February, 1780. He was there put to school for 
three or four months, and afterwards enjoyed the 
advantages of a public school at Amsterdam, and 
the university of Leyden. During this time he 
made great proficiency in the classics, besides ac- 
quiring a good knowledge of French and German. 

In the summer of 1781 he went as private secre- 
tary of Francis Dana, in his mission to the court of 
the empress of Russia. After remaining there four- 
teen months, he set out on his return, unattended, 
and journeyed through Sweden, Denmark, Ham- 
burg and Bremen, to Holland, where he arrived in 



180 ' JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

April, 1783, and was in charge of Mr. Dumas, an 
agent of the United States, at the Hague, till the 
arrival of his father in July. From this time till 
the spring of 1785, he continued with his father, 
who was engaged in negotiating for his country, 
chiefly in England, Holland and France. He then 
returned and entered the junior class at Harvard 
college, where in June, 1787, he graduated with 
high reputation. 

His attention was now directed to a course of 
law. He studied with Chief Justice Parsons, at 
Newburyport. While there he had the honor of 
preparing an address, to be delivered by Mr. Parsons, 
expressive of the public sentiment, on a visit of 
General Washington to that place. 

Mr. Adams entered upon his professional duties 
in Boston, and meanwhile employed much of his 
leisure in writing upon the great political topics of 
the day. No man was better qualified to throw 
light upon difficult subjects, whether political, his- 
torical or literary. He had enriched his mind at 
foreign universities, studied the various workinsfs 
of the human heart, both at home and abroad, and 
added to a collegiate course the fine discipline of a 
thorough acquaintance with the legal profession. 
His political essays accordingly soon attracted wide 
attention. They were alike distinguished for beauty 
of diction and strength of argument. The writings 
which brought him more specially into notice, and 
established him as a statesman and politician, were 
his essays upon neutrality on the part of the United 
States in respect to the war of 1793, between Eng- 
land and France. It was claimed by many that 
the treaty of alliance of 1778, obligated us to join 
in the wars of France. The French minister, Mr. 
Genet, occasioned great excitement in the public 
mind by his flaming appeals to our government for 
aid. Mr. Adams opposed this sentiment, and main- 
tained that our policy should be strict neutrality in 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 181 

that war; that it was both the duty and for the 
interest of the United States, not to take part in it. 
These papers were read and admired by Washini^- 
ton, who, not knowino^ their author, as they appeared 
under a fictitious title, made special eftbrt to ascer- 
tain his name. They were attributed by him to 
John Adams, his father, as they bore evidence of a 
maturity of mind beyond what is common to young 
men at the age of twenty-seven. The justice of 
his views was shortly sanctioned by a proclamation 
of neutrality by Washington. Soon after he was 
recommended to Washington, by Thomas Jefferson, 
as a fit person to engage in the public services of 
his country. Mr. Jefferson had seen him in France, 
while a boy, and formed a high opinion of his 
talents, both native and acquired. Being thus 
honorably introduced to Washington's notice, and 
liaving previously commended liimself by his writ- 
ings, he was shortly after appointed by him minister 
resident to the Netherlands. During his residence 
there he became of great public service, not only 
by a faithful discharge of the duties of his mission, 
but by a careful study of the leading events of other 
governments that came under his notice. His 
correspondence at that time with our government 
was-of the highest importance. 

With Washington's approval he was continued 
in the important office of minister plenipotentiary, 
and sent by his father to Berlin instead of Portugal, 
where he had been commissioned by Washington, 
just before he closed his administration. He 
resided there between three and four years, and 
having eflected with the government of Prussia an 
important treaty of commerce and renewed the 
treaty with Sweden, he returned to Philadelphia 
early in the autumn of 1801. During the seven 
years which he spent in the service of his country 
abroad, his influence had become more and more 
felt at home. He had shown himself in every way 



182 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

competent to discharge the important duties of his 
foreign commission, had enriclied his mind with 
various learning, pubhshed letters of his travels in 
Silesia and other provinces, and conciliated favor 
toward our government wherever he went. 

vShortly after his return, the public estimation in 
which he was held at home was manifested by his 
being elected to the senate of Massachusetts, Irom 
Boston. The next year, 1803, he was elected a 
senator of the United States. 

After his resignation in 1806, he took the profes- 
sorship of rhetoric, to which he had been previously 
elected, in Harvard college. He drew crowds to 
listen to the eloquence and learning displa3^ed in 
his lectures. As a proof of their value, they were 
published by recjuest, and are now read with plea- 
sure and profit. Mr. Adams was not long suffered 
to hold a professorship. His country needed more 
his distins^uished services. President Madison, with 
the approval of the senate, appointed him, in 1S09, 
as first minister plenipotentiary to the court of the 
emperor of Russia. No man was better qualified 
to go upon this important mission. Twenty-eight 
years before, he had become acquainted with the 
country while secretary to Mr. Dana. He had now 
added to age, refined learning and profound states- 
manship. This gave him easy access to the learned 
emperor, Alexander, who is said to have admitted 
him to an intimacy rarely enjoyed with despotic 
monarchs, by their own ministers. 

In 1814 Mr. Madison appointed Mr. Adams com- 
missioner to negotiate a treaty of peace between 
this country and Great Britain. His colleagues 
were James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Rus- 
sell, and Albert Gallatin. That distinguished body 
negotiated the memorable treaty at Ghent. He 
then, in conjunction with Messrs. Clay and Gallatin, 
negotiated a convention of commerce between the 
two governments, which holds to this day. Imme- 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 183 

diately thereafter, Mr. Adams received the appoint- 
ment of minister plenipotentiary at the court of ^St. 
James. Here his conduct was sio:nahzed by cour- 
teous bearing and efficiency, as it had hitherto been, 
at the Russian court, until he was recalled by Mr. 
Monroe, in March, 1817, to fill an important office 
in his cabinet, as secretary of state. 

Mr. Adams, during- the eight years of Monroe's 
administration, proved himself equal to what had 
thus been predicted of him. He at once gained the 
entire confidence of the executive board, and 
showed an ability to manage the affairs of the state 
at home, equal to his distinguished diplomatic ser- 
vices abroad. He was particularly efficient in all 
questions relating to the foregn policy of the govern- 
ment, and is to be regarded as the prime mover of 
many important measures adopted during Mr. 
Monroe's administration, respecting foreign affiiirs. 
By him the long standing disputes between our 
government and Spain were successfully terminated, 
and mutual harmony restored. The Floridas were 
added to our possessions. The independence of 
the new republics of Spanish America was recog- 
nized by our government. 

The reputation which Mr. Adams acquired durino- 
Mr. Monroe's administration, early marked him as 
a candidate for the presidency. Henry Clay, Wil- 
liam H. Crawford, and Andrew Jackson, each hav- 
ing strong claims for popular support, were also ri- 
val candidates for the same office. Party and sec- 
tional interests were prevalent then as now, and 
consequently no choice was made by the electors. 
The votes stood thus: for General Jackson, 99 ; Mr. 
Adams, 84; Mr. Crawford, 41; and Mr. Clay, 37. 
The election was therefore made by the house of 
representatives, and resulted in the choice of Mr. 
Adams. 

Mr. Adams occupied the presidential chair from 
March 4th, 1825, to March 4th, 1829. During his 



184 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

administration party spirit ran high, and toward its 
close the popular current was fast setting toward 
General Jackson. 

Soon after the election of General Jackson to the 
presidency of the United States, Mr. Adams returned 
to Quincy, his native place, to enjoy the pleasures 
of domestic peace in his family mansion. No spot 
was more delightful to him than this. Here he 
had passed his boyhood, amid scenes of surpassing 
beauty and of thrilling interest. On one side his 
eye ranged along the Atlantic, on the other, it tra- 
versed the distant Blue hills. From Penn's hill, 
he beheld the " smoke rising from burning Charles- 
town," and distinctly heard the booming cannon 
during the battle of Bunker hill. "Penn's hill," 
said he, in a letter from Europe to his n>other, "and 
Braintree North Common rocks never looked and 
never felt to me like any other hill or any other 
rocks. Why? Because every shrub and every 
pebble upon them, associates itself with the first 
consciousness of my existence that remains upon 
my memory. Every visit to them brings with it a 
resurrection of departed time, and seems to connect 
me with the ages of my forefathers." Such being 
his devoted ness to his native town, he might well 
have desired to pass the remainder of his days there. 
He had enjoyed every honor his countrymen could 
bestow, or himself desire. Yet he was ready to 
yield up the pleasures of Quincy, for the irksome 
duties of congress and its stormy debates. 

Accordingly we find him at the age of sixty- four, 
taking his seat in the house of representatives at 
Washington, to become a life member of that body; 
for such regard as that with which he was held by the 
inhabitants of his native town, was sure to manifest 
itself by his reelection as often as one term after 
another of public service expired. Possessed of 
extraordinary native talents, that were cultivated 
to an extent seldom found in a statesman, dignified 



LOUISA CATHARINE ADAMS. 185 

with age and experience, he carried into that body 
a weight of influence which, on every occasion, 
being thrown into the scale of equity, gave just 
balance on the side of humanity. The national 
records, for a succession of years, bear ample testi- 
mony to his great ability, enriched as they are with 
the refined strokes of his genius and profound learn- 
ing. His voice was heard on nearly every import- 
ant question before the house during his protracted 
public services. Age and experience gave weight 
to what he said, and commanded attention. When 
more than four score years had gone over his head, 
he was yet " the old man eloquent," firm, dauntless, 
powerful. 

His intellect sparkled to the last; for it was polish- 
ed day by day to the close of life. Old age can not 
cloud the mind kept like his, in constant activity 
and daily cultivation. 

In February, 1848, stricken down with apoplexy 
in the Capitol of the nation, he died under its dome, 
the representatives of the Union bending over his 
couch, in sorrow. Thus terminated the life of this 
eminently great man. He has had few, if any, 
equals, in point of erudition, sagacity and usefulness. 
Next to our beloved Washington, his memory will 
be cherished by his countrymen. Like him, his 
political history will brighten with age, and his 
uncompromising integrity be proverbial. 



< ♦•*■» 



LOUISA CATHARINE ADAMS. 

OUISA Catharine Johnson, was the maiden 
name of the widow of the late ex-president 
Adams. She was the daughter of Joshua 
mson, of Maryland, Avho went from America 
London, where he became an eminent mer- 
chant, and where his daughter was born on the 
11th of February, 1775. Mr. Johnson, during the 

24 




186 LOUISA CATHARINE ADAMS. 

war, left England for France, where he acted as the 
commercial agent of this country, returning to Lon- 
don on the ratificationof peace. 

Mr. Adams became acquainted with his future 
wife while acting under the commission conferred 
upon him by Washington in 1794, for exchanging 
the ratifications made under the treaty of Novem- 
ber of that year. They were married at All Hallows 
church, London, in May, 1797. 

Mrs. Adams accompanied her husband to Prussia 
when the latter was presented as the first American 
minister from the United States. She was at the 
court of St. Petersburg from 1809 to 1814, the most 
exciting, and perhaps the most revolutionary period 
in the history of Europe, and embracing a part of 
that interesting period of our own history, when 
we were at war with England. Mr. Adams resided 
longer at St. Petersburg than any of our American 
ministers, excepting Mr. Middleton; and his lady 
was left there for a brief period, while her husband 
was called to another field of service. Mrs. Adams 
came alone from St. Petersburg to Paris, after the 
treaty of peace had been signed by Mr. Adams at 
Ghent. She was at Paris during the most remark- 
able period of Napoleon's supremacy, and passed 
the world-renowned Hundred Days at the French 
metropolis, in the midst of the whirl of excitement 
incident to the struggle between the Bourbons and 
the Revolutionists. After a short residence in Paris 
followed by a longer one with her parents in the 
neighborhood of London, Mrs. Adams came to 
Washington in 1817, where her husband had been 
called as the principal member of Mr. Monroe's 
cabinet. Eight years as secretary of state, four in 
the White House, and fifty-one the companion of 
her distinguished husband, Mrs. Adams has seen 
more of court life, and that in every variety, irom 
the boastful ostentation of royalty to the simpHcity 
of our own republican habits, than perhaps any 
living woman. 




(ZJ^^y^/y^^(-^ "^^f^y^x^^ 



ANDREW JACKSON. 187 




ANDREW JACKSON. 

EVENTH president of the United States, 
Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaw 
gj*"*^^' settlement, South CaroUna, on the 15th of 
^^ March, 1767. 

The Jackson family were of Scottish origin, 
and a portion of them emigrated from Scotland 
to the province of Ulster, Ireland, during the reign 
of Henry the Seventh. 

The grandfather of the subject of this memoir 
was a linen draper near Carrickfergus, Ireland. He 
had four sons, who were all respectable farmers. 
Andrew, the youngest, married Elizabeth Hutchin- 
son, with whom, in 176-5, he emigrated to South 
Carolina, where, two years afterwards, his son, the 
future president, was born. Losing his father about 
the time of his birth, Andrew was at an early age 
placed by his mother under the tuition of Mr. 
Humphries, the principal of the Waxhaw acade- 
my. He then obtained a tolerable knowledge of 
Greek and Latin as well as the common branches 
of an English education. But the tumult of the 
revolution soon interrupted his studies, and he ar- 
dently longed to become one of the defenders of his 
country. 

In 1778, the militia of South Carolina, on being 
called out to repel the invading foe, Hugh, the eld- 
est of Andrew's brothers, was slain. In 1780, when 
little more than thirteen years of age, with a heart 
burning with indignation, young Andrew joined a 
volunteer corps with his brother Robert, and served 
under general Sumpter. 

In 1781 Andrew and his brother Robert were 
taken prisoners. While in captivity Andrew being 
one day ordered to clean the muddy boots of a Bri- 
tish officer, indignantly refused, whereupon he 



188 ANDREW JACKSON. 

received a severe sword cut. His brother was also 
severely woanded by a blow on the head for a simi- 
lar re fa sal. 

After their release, the brothers returned with 
their mother to Waxhaw, where Robert soon died 
from sickness and the effect of the brutal blow. 
Tiie motlier soon afterwards dying-, Andrew was 
left the only survivor of the Jackson family who 
came to America. 

At the close of the revolution, he fell into habits of 
dissipation, but he suddenly reformed, and in 1784 
conmienced the study of law at Salisbury, North 
Carolina. On the completion of his studies, the 
governor appointed him solicitor of that portion of 
the state now comprisinj^ Tennessee. In 1791 he 
married Mrs. Rachael Robards, an amiable woman, 
who had previously been divorced from her hus- 
band. 

In 1796 Mr. Jackson was elected a member of 
congress from Tennessee, and in 1797 at the age of 
thirty he took his seat in the United States senate. 
On leaving that body he was appointed judge of the 
supreme court of his state, and also major-general 
of the militia. In 1804 he resigned his judgeship, 
and returned to his plantation, near Nashville, hav- 
ing amassed a considerable fortune. 

When, in 1812, the United States declared war 
against Great Britain, Jackson ardently longed for 
an opportunity to enter the army. One soon oftered, 
and in January, 1813, he descended the Mississippi at 
the head of a body of volunteer troops, destined for 
the defence of New Orleans and vicinity. They 
were, however, soon after marched home and dis- 
charged, the necessity for their serving seeming no 
longer to exist. 

Early in 1813, he was appointed to the command 
of an expedition against the Creek Indians, who, 
in connection with the northern tribes, were com- 
mitting dreadful massacres upon the frontiers. He 



ANDREW JACKSON. 189 

reached the Indian country in October, 1813, and 
after several severe battles he brought them to the 
knee of sabmission. 

In May, 1814, on the resignation of General 
Harrison, General Jackson received the appoint- 
ment of major general in the United States army. 
During the summer he acted as diplomatist inne- 
gotiating treaties with the southern Indians, which 
he effected to the entire satisfaction of his govern- 
ment. Learning that a body of British troops were 
at Pensacola (then in possession of Spain,) drilling 
a large number of Indians for war, he advised his 
government to take possession of that port. Subse- 
quently, having about thirty-five hundred men under 
his command for the defence of the southern country, 
he captured Pensacola on his own responsibility, 
and put an end to difficulties in that quarter. On 
the 1st of December he arrived at New Orleans, and 
made his headquarters there. He set about prepar- 
ing for its defence, and, in order to act efficiently, 
declared martial law. On the 21st of December he 
had a battle with the British, nine miles below the 
city; and on the 8th of January the decisive battle 
of New Orleans was fought. On the 13th of Feb. 
an express arrived at headquarters with intelligence 
of the conclusion of peace between the United 
States and Great Britain. In every section of the 
Union the triumph at New Orleans was hailed with 
the greatest jo}'^, and Jackson became exceedingly 
popular. 

In 1818, he was called to act in conjunction with 
General Gaines in suppressing the depredations of 
the Seminole Indians in Florida. In the course of the 
campaign betook possession of St. Marks, and again 
of Pensacola, although in possession of the Spanish. 
This act portended trouble with Spain, but the 
speedy cession of Florida to the United States re- 
moved all cause. On the close of the campaign he 
resigned his commission in the army. 



190 ANDREW JACKSON. 

In 1821, President Monroe appointed him governor 
of Florida; and in 1823 he was offered the station 
of minister to Mexico. In 1822, the legislature of 
Tennessee nominated him for president of the 
United States; and in 1823 it elected him United 
States senator. In 1824, he was one of the five 
candidates for president, and received more votes 
than any of his competitors, but not a sufficient 
number to elect him. In 1825, he entertained La 
Fayette at his estate called the Hermitage. In 
1828, he was elected president of the United States 
by a majority of more than two to one over Mr. 
Adams.* Mr. Calhoun was elected vice-president. 

The administration of Jackson, of eight years' 
duration, was, like his life, an eventful one, but our 
prescribed limits will permit us only to briefly refer 
to the principal events which distinguished it. 

The spirit of the advice which Jackson had given 
to Monroe was not regarded by himself, and he 
chose for his cabinet, and other appointments, men 
of his own party exclusively. During the first year 
of his administration a great many removals fiom 
office took place, and this subjected him to severe 
animadversions. 

The hostility of the southern portion of the Union 
to the tarifi'of 1828, evolved bold doctrines concern- 
ing state rights; and in 1830 the principle known 
as nulUficalion was openly avowed by Mr. Cal- 
houn and his southern friends. The legislature of 
South Carolina had previously declared the tariff' 
law unconstitutional. Virginia, Georgia, and Ala- 
bama, sided with South Carolina, and assumed 
that the sovereignty of the states was so absolute 
that they had the right to nullify any act jof the 
general government. This was an alarming doc- 

*Jiist before deparlinfr for Washington in 1829, to assume the reins 
of government, he lost his estimable wife. The bereavement weighed 
heavily upon his spirits, and he entered upon his exalted duties with a 
sad heart. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 191 

trine, and the dissolution of the Union seemed near 
at hand. But the energy of the president was equal 
to the emerg-ency. He issued a proclamation, and 
sent troops to Charleston, to act as occasion might 
require. These energetic measures were approved 
by the great body of the people, and active nullifi- 
cation soon disappeared. 

In 1830, the French government having changed 
hands, Mr. Rives, United States minister at Paris, 
negotiated a treaty, by which the payment of nearly 
five millions of dollars, for depredations upon our 
commerce about the close of the last century, was 
stipulated. It was to be paid in six annual instal- 
ments; but the French chamber of deputies neg- 
lected or refused to appropriate the amount, and 
the draft for the first instalment came back protest- 
ed. This act the president highly resented, and a 
war between this country and France became ex- 
tremely probable. The matter was finally settled 
in 1836, but not till years of angry dispute had, in 
a great measure, alienated from each other the 
people of the two countries. 

In 1S30, by a treaty with Great Britain, direct 
trade was opened with the British colonies in the 
West Indies. In 1832, the war with the Indian 
tribes on the north-west frontier, known as the 
Black Hawk war, occurred. From 1829 to 1833, 
advantageous commercial treaties were concluded 
with many of the goA^ernments of the old world. 

In 1832, a bill for rechartering the United States 
bank was passed by both houses of congress. The 
bill was vetoed by the president, and in 1836 the 
bank, as a national institution, ceased to exist. 

In the autumn of 1832, Jackson was reelected 
president, and Martin Van Buren was elected vice- 
president. Mr. Clay was the opposing candidate 
for president. 

In 1833, the president becoming convinced that 
the United States bank was insolvent, directed the 



192 ANDREW JACKSON. 

removal of the government deposites from its ens- 
tody. This measure produced great excitement, 
and, to some extent, a defection trom the adminis- 
tration ranks. It was proved, by a subsequent 
commission, that the bank was in a sound condition. 
The great commercial revulsion of 1S36- 7 was 
charged upon this measure, but, as a majority of 
the people believed, without any just cause. 

In 1834, the Cherokee nation of Indians, inhabit- 
ing a portion of Georgia, came into collision with 
the authorities of that state, who claimed that by 
certain treaties their lands belonged to Georgia. 
They were partially civihzed and had many farms 
under cultivation, and it was a peculiar hardship 
for them to leave and go into the wilderness. In 
1835, amicable arrangements were made for their 
removal, and they went beyond the Mississippi. 
This was a most unrighteous act of our government. 

Toward the close of .1835, the Seminole Indians 
in Florida commenced hostihties against the white 
settlements on the frontier. An attempt of the 
government to remove the tribes beyond the Missis- 
sippi was the immediate cause of the war. Osceola 
was the chief warrior of the Seminoles, and by his 
artful dissimulation in diplomacy, and boldness in 
war, the contest lasted for several years. 

In 1835-6, a large number of banking institutions 
sprang up in the several states, and the facility thus 
afforded for obtaining money, fostered a spirit of 
speculation, which finally ended in a business re- 
vulsion such as was never witnessed here before. 
The celebrated specie circular, issued from the 
treasury department in 183«i, requiring the payment 
of gold and silver for pubhc lands, gave the first 
powerful check To mad schemes of speculation, and 
it doubtless prevented in a measure the absorption 
of the entire public domain by a few individuals. 

In the fall of 1836, another presidential election 
occurred. The opposing candidates were Martin 



ANDREW JACKSON^. 193 

Van Buren (democratic), and General Harrison and 
Judge AVhite (opposition). Van Buren was elected 
president and Richard M. Johnson vice-president. 

In January, 1837, a resolution was passed, ex- 
punging from the journals of congress a resolution 
offered by Mr. Chiy in 1834, censuring the course 
of the president in removing the government funds 
from the United States bank. The last official act 
of Jackson's administration was an informal veto 
(by retaining it in his possession till after the ad- 
journment of congress) of a bill so far counteracting 
the specie circular as to allow the reception of 
the notes of specie-paying banks in payment for 
public lands- 

On the 3d of March, J 837, his administration 
closed ; and having published a farewell address, 
he retired to the Hermitage in Tennessee, wliere 
he passed the remainder of his days. For- the last 
two years of his life he was physically quite infirm, 
but his mind lost but little of its energy. On the 
8th of June, 1845, he expired, in the seventy-ninth 
year of his age. Public funeral obsequies were per- 
formed throughout the country, for it might be 
truly said, a "great man has fallen in Israel," His 
estate was left to the Donelson family, who were 
relatives of Mrs. Jackson, he having no blood-rela- 
tions in this country. 

In person. General Jackson was six feet one inch 
high, remarkably straight, and thin, never weighing 
over one hundred and fifty pounds. His sharp, 
intelligent eye was a dark blue. His manners were 
pleasmg, his address commanding, and the most 
remarkable feature of his character was firmness. 
Honest and conscientious, no obstacle could prevent 
his doing what he judged to be right. Benevolence 
was in him a leading virtue, and his moral charac- 
ter was ever above reproach.* 

* LossLug's Lives of the Presidents. 

25 



194 ANDREW JACKSON. 

In the month of January, 1835, at the time, 
when, in consequence of pendin*^ difficulties be- 
tween this country and France, the public mind had 
become somewhat diverted from the politics of fac- 
tions, an attempt was made on the life of General 
Jackson, by a young man named Eichard Lawrence. 
He was a journeyman painter, about twenty or 
twenty-one years of age, and a native of Great 
Britain, though, tor some years, a resident of the city 
of Washington. 

This bold attempt was made in the day time, and 
in the presence of at least ten thousand people, on 
the steps of the east front of the Capitol, The op- 
portunity sought, was a singular, and a melancholy 
one. 

The Hon. Warren R. Davis, a representative in 
congress, from South Carolina, had, a few days be- 
fore, fallen a victim to the diseases incident to the 
capital; and was to be buried, from the halls of 
congress, in conformity with parliamentary custom 
and courtesy. 

Tlie multitude had listened to a funeral discourse 
from the chaplain, in the hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and had marched in procession through 
the rotunda to the east front of the Capitol, and were 
standing on the esplanade, General Jackson some- 
what in advance, when Richard Lawrence, who 
had gained his position, no one could tell how, 
drew from his bosom a brass barreled pistol, delibe- 
rately presented it to the breast of General Jackson, 
and pulled the trigger. The percussion cap exploded 
without discharging the pistol. Finding himself 
baffled in his attempt, he drew a second pistol, 
which had the same effect — the percussion cap ex- 
ploded, and no harm was done. So adroitly did 
Lawrence act, and so dense was the crowd, that he 
was not discovered by any one at the moment, 
except General Jackson, who raised his cane and 
struck at, but missed his object. As he raised his 



ANDREW JACKSON. 195 

cane, he ejaculated an emphatic expression, familiar 
to himself, which arrested the attention of others, 
Avhen Lawrence was secured by Captain Gedney, 
of the navy, wiio clasped him in his arms, and then 
pinioned him. The cry was, instantly, " kill him, 
kill him, kill the assassin, kill him." Gedney, 
however, held the assassin fast, and demanding 
that law and justice should take their course, hur- 
ried the madman into a carriage, and conveyed him 
to prison. 

The excitement that immediately ensued was 
terrific; the mass in attendance swayed to and fro 
like the waves of the ocean; and, hundreds, not 
knowing what was the actual cause of alarm, at- 
tempted to make a precipitant retreat, to avoid be- 
ing trampled on. 

At the time of the arrest of Lawrence, it was 
doubted, by many, if his pistols were loaded, as 
neither of them went off. To ascertain the fact, 
they were placed in the hands of Major Donel- 
son, and a company of gentlemen, who examined 
them. They were found to be loaded with ball, 
slug, and buck-shot, and, being recapped, went 
off, and perforated a two-inch oak plank at the dis- 
tance of some ten yards. They were brass barreled, 
connected near the breech, or chamber, by a screw. 

Why they did not explode when placed at the 
breast of General Jackson, of course no one can 
tell, but it was supposed, as Lawrence had carried 
them in his bosom many days, and as the weather 
was very warm, for the season, that the warmth of 
his body had destroyed the percussion caps. 

Lawrence was committed to jail in the month cf 
February, 1835, and remained there many years, 
Avhen he was conveyed to the lunatic asylum in 
Baltimore. When we last saw him, he appeared to 
be contented and happy, and was very busily en- 
gaged in parceling out crowns and kingdoms, 
while he originated monarchies and despotisms. — 
Holden's Magazine. 



196 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 




MONG the earlierimmigrnntsfrom Hol- 
land were the Van Buren family. They 
settled npon lands on the east bank of 
the Hudson, now known by the name 
of Columbia county, New York. 
Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of 
the United States, was born at Kinderhook on 
the 5th of December, 1782. His father was 
a farmer in very moderate circumstances. His early 
education was extremely limited, but the little oppor- 
tunity afibrded him at the Kinderhook academy, for 
acquiring any learning beyond the mere rudiments 
of an English education, -was industriously im- 
proved. At the age of fourteen years he entered the 
office of Francis Sylvester, a lawyer of Kinderhook, 
and very soon gave promise of future eminence. 
The last year of his preparatory studies was spent 
in the office of William P. Van Ness, an eminent 
lawyer and leading democrat in the city of New 
York. 

In November, 1803, Mr. Van Buren was admitted 
to practice in the supreme court of the United 
States, and in his native town he formed a law 
partnership with his half-brother, Mr. Van Alen, 
In 1806 he married Miss Hannah Hoes, who was 
distantly related to him. She died in 1818, leaving 
him four sons. In 1808 he was appointed surrogate 
of Columbia county, and from that time until 1815 
he had a lucrative practice. In 1815 he was ap- 
pointed attorney-general of the state, and he con- 
tinued the practice of law until 1828, when he was 
elected governor of the state of New York. 

Mr. Van Buren's political career has been a bril- 
liant one. He entered the field as early as 1804, 
when Aaron Burr and Morgan Lewis were the op- 




/^^-^^n/2/ Cf^'^^^^^^^'C'^^ 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 197 

posing democratic candidates for governor of the 
state. He supported Mr. Lewis. In J 807 he warm- 
ly supported Daniel D. Tompkins for the same office; 
and during the entire administration of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, it received his support. He was opposed to 
the rechartering of the United States bank in ISll, 
and he warmly defended the course of the vice- 
president (George Clinton), who gave his casting 
vote against the measure. 

In 1812 he was elected to the state senate, and 
in 1816 he was appointed a regent of the univer- 
sity, and was also reelected to the senate for four 
years. He became personally and politically op- 
posed to Mr. Clinton; and when, in 1818, that gen- 
tleman was elected governor, Mr. Van Buren op- 
posed his administration, and was one of the leaders 
of that portion of the democratic party, an alleged 
association of which at the seat of government was 
known by the name of the Albany Regency. Mr. 
Clinton's friends having a majority in the council 
of appointment, Mr. Van Buren was removed from 
the office of attorney-general. It was afterward 
tendered to him, but he declined it. 

In 1821, Mr. Van Buren was elected to the se- 
nate of the United States. He was also an active 
and leading member of the convention that met 
that year to revise the constitution of the state of 
New York. In 1827, he was reelected to the United 
States senate for six years. In 1828, he was elected 
governor of his state. In a brief message in Janu- 
ary, 1829, he proposed the celebrated safety-fund 
system for banking institutions. In 1829, General 
Jackson appointed him secretary of state, and he 
resigned the office of governor. In 1831, on the 
dissolution of Jackson's cabinet, Mr. Van Buren 
was appointed minister to Great Britain. The ap- 
pointment was not confi^rmed by the senate, and he 
was recalled. His friends looked upon this as po- 
litical persecution, and he was nominated for and 



198 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

elected vice-president of the United States in 183 2. 
In 1806, lie was elected president, and Colonel 
Eichard M. Johnson was elected vice-president. 
]\lr. Vaji Bnren was inaugurated on the 4th of 
March, 1837. 

Durinjj;' the summer of 1839, he visited the state 
of New York for the first time since his inauj^ura- 
tion, and was everywhere greeted with enthusiasm. 

In 1840, Mr. Van Buren was a candidate for re- 
election, but the great political changes from vari- 
ous causes gave but little hope for his success. 
General Harrison, the candidate of the opposition, 
was elected by a large majority. John Tyler of 
Virginia, was elected vice-president. Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's administration closed on the 3d of March, 
1841. 

Since his retirement from office, Mr. Van Buren 
has resided upon his beautiful estate at Kinderhook. 
In personal appearance, Mr. Van Buren is about the 
middle size, erect, and rather inclined to corpulency. 
His hair (formerly light) is now white, his eye is 
bright and deeply penetrating, and his expansive 
forehead indicates great intellectual power. He is 
now sixty-seven years of age. 

In the autumn of 184S Mr. Van Buren, at the 
earnest solicitation of his friends, sufiered himself 
to be nominated for the presidency as the advocate 
of the Wilmot Proviso, prohibiting the extension of 
slavery in newly acquired territory. This was done 
more with a view of embodying ihe sentiment of 
those opposed to the extension of slavery than from 
any reasonable prospect of his election. The suc- 
cessful candidate was General Taylor. 




^ l^f/a^M^<^-^ 







WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 199 

t 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

JILLTAM Henry Harrison, the ninth presi- 
VN dent of the United States, was born near 
'''■^ Richmond, Virginia, on the 9th of Febru- 
'^ ary, 1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was 
^^ a representative fromVirginia in the continental 
congress, and when the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was agreed to, he was chairman of the com- 
mittee of the whole. He Was also one of the sign- 
ers of that document. 

AVilliam Henry, the subject of this sketch, was 
the youngest of three sons. 

After graduating at Hampden Sydney, he went 
to Philadelphia for the purpose of studying medi- 
cine, but he had scarcely arrived when the news of 
his father's death reached him. He then resolved 
to enter the army; and having obtained from Wash- 
ington an ensign's commission, he departed for the 
west. 

"When General Wayne, in 1794, took the com- 
mand in the north-west, young Harrison was soon 
noticed for his valor, and made one of his aids. He 
was promoted to the rank of captain; and after the 
treaty of Greenville, in 1795, he was left in com- 
mand of Fort Washington. He soon after married 
the daughter of Judge Symmes, the proprietor of 
the Miami purchase, and, resigning his military 
commission, entered upon civil official duties as 
secretary of the North- Western territory. 

In 1799, Harrison was elected the first delegate to 
congress from the North- Western territory. Through 
his influence in cono^ress, such salutary regulations 
respecting the sale and occupancy of public lands 
at the west were effected, that emigration rapidly 
filled the country with settlers. When, soon after, 
Indiana was erected into a territory, Harrison was 



200 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

appointed governor thereof by President Adams. 
He was clothed with extraordinary powers, v/hich 
subsequently became necessary, for in their exercise 
he was instrumental in saving the settlers of Ihat 
frontier from the hatchet of the savages, whetted 
by British intrigue. When the war of 1812 broke 
out, Harrison found the Indians ripe for conflict, 
under the teacliings of the brave Tecnmseh and 
his prophet-brother. Before that event he took the 
field in person, and obtained a decisive victory over 
the savages at Tippecanoe, the village of Tecumseh. 
In 1812, he received the appointment of brevet 
major-general in the Kentucky militia, and on the 
surrender of Hull, he was appointed a major-general 
in the army of the United States. In October, 1813, 
he achieved the battle of the Thames. 

In 1814, he resigned his commission, in conse- 
quence of a misunderstanding with General Arm- 
strong, the secretary of war. President Madison, 
who held him in the greatest esteem, deeply de- 
plored the act of resignation. General Harrison 
retired to his farm at North Bend, in Ohio, but the 
voice of the people called him forth to represent 
them at various times, both in the state legislature 
and in the congress of the United States. In 1824, 
he was elected to the senate of the United States; 
and in 1828, he was appointed minister to the re- 
public of Colombia, in South America. In conse- 
quence of some difference of views respecting the 
Panama question. General Jackson recalled him. 
He retired to his estate at North Bend, with the 
intention of passing the remainder of his days there 
in the bosom of his family. But the voice of the 
people again called him forth, and in 184 he was 
elected president of the United States by an over- 
whelming majority. John Tyler, of Virginia, was 
elected vice-president. 

General Harrison was inaugurated on the 4th of 
March, 1841. But the sound of rejoicing that at- 



JOHN TYLER. 201 

tended his elevation had scarcely died upon the ear, 
when a funeral-knell was heard, and the beloved 
and veteran statesman was a corpse in the presi- 
dential mansion! On the 4th of April, just one 
month after his inauguration, he expired, aged 
sixty-eight years. 

In person, he was tall and slender, and always 
enjoyed great bodily vigor. His dark eye was 
remarkable for its keenness and intelligence. 
Throughout a long life, he was distinguished for 
stern integrity, purity of purpose, and patriotism 
without alloy. "^ 



):«: 




JOHN TYLER. 

iMONG the early English settlers of Virginia 
f^S were the ancestors of John Tyler, the tenth 
^ president of the United States. His father 
[.p was a lineal descendant of Wat Tyler, who in 
the fourteenth century headed an insurrection 
in England, and who lost his life while inso- 
lently demanding from Richard the Second certain 
rights which were claimed for the people. 

The subject of this notice was born in Charles 
county, Virginia, on the 29th of March, 1790. At 
the age of twelve he entered William and Mary 
college, and in his seventeenth year he graduated 
with high honor. Applying himself to the study of 
the law, at the age of nineteen he was admitted to 
the bar, where he soon secured an extensive practice. 
In 1811 he was unanimously elected a member 
of the Virginia legislature. In 1816 he was elected 
to congress. Towards the close of his second term 
of service in that body, his impaired health com- 



* Lossing, 



O' 



26 



202 JOHN TYLER. 

pelled him to resign. In 1823 he was again elected 
to the Virginia legislature. In 1825, by a very large 
majority, he was elected governor of Virginia, On 
the following year he was reelected, but resigned 
in order to take his place in the United States senate. 
In 1833 he was reelected to the senate for the term 
of six years. 

"In 1836, the legislature of Virginia instructed 
the senators from that state to vote for expunging 
from the journals of the senate the resolution of Mr. 
Clay, censuring the president. As Mr. Tyler ap- 
proved of the resolution, he could not obey instruc- 
tions, and, true to his avowed principles, he resigned 
his seat, and was succeeded by Mr. Rives. 

In the spring of 1838, the whigs of James City 
county elected Mr. Tyler a member of the Virginia 
legislatu]*e. In 1839 he was elected A member of 
the whig convention that met at Harrisburgh to 
nominate a candidate for president of the United 
States. He was chosen vice-president of the con- 
vention, and warmly supported Mr. Clay for the 
nomination. General Harrison was nominated for 
president, and Mr. Tyler for vice-president, and in 
1840 they were both elected." 

On the suddendeathof President Harrison, on the 
4th of April, 1841, Mr. Tyler, in accordance with the 
provisions of the constitution, became president of 
the United States. Of the character of his admin- 
istration and his personal relations thereto, it is not 
our province to speak. In declining a nomination 
for a second term he said, " I appeal from the vi- 
tuperation of the present day to the pen of impartial 
history, in the full confidence that neither my 
motives nor my acts will bear the interpretation 
which has, for sinister purposes, been placed upon 
them." On the 4th of March, 1845, he returned to 
his estate near Williamsburg, Virginia, where he 
still resides. 

The first wife of President Tyler was Miss Lu- 




(Joi, 



CC^-Z^T^Z^ 'C/Z^^o-^O?, 



J^o- 



JAMES K. POLK. 203 

cretia Christian, whom he married in 1813. She 
died September 10th, 1842. On the 26th of June, 
1844, he married Miss Julia Gardiner, daughter of 
the late David Gardiner, who was killed by the 
explosion on board the Princeton. 



< • » » > 




JAMES KNOX POLK, 

ELEVENTH president of the United States, 
was born in Mecklenburg county, North 
Carolina, on the 2d of March, 1795. Some- 
time previous to the commencement of the 
f^ revolutionary war, his ancestors settled near 
the western frontier of North Carolina, and 
during the stormy period they were among the most 
ardent patriots.^ In the autumn of 1806 the father 
of the subject of this memoir, with a wife and ten 
children, removed to Tennessee, upon the Duck 
river, which region was then a wilderness. James 
having acquired a good English education, was at 
the age of seventeen placed in a mercantile house. 
But preferring the law, at the age of twenty, with 
a view to the acquirement of the profession, he en- 
tered the university of North Carolina, where in 
1818 he graduated with distinguished honor. Re- 
turning to Tennessee, he commenced the study of 
law, in the office of the late Felix Grundy. In 
1820 he was admitted to the bar. He commenced 
practice in the county of Maury, where he soon 
took the lead in his profession. 

In 1823 he was elected to the legislature of Ten- 
nessee, and in 1825 he was elected to congress. 

* The name of Ezekiel Polk, the grandfather of the ex-president, is 
found on the original copy of the Mecklenburg, North Carolina, Declara- 
tion of Independence, made May 19, 1775, and recently discovered by 
Mr. Bancroft. 



204 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

Having been reeelected to that body for fourteen 
years, in 1839 he was elected by a large majority 
governor of Tennessee. In 1841 and 1843 he was 
affain a candidate for the same office, but without 
success. On the 29th of May, 1844, the democratic 
convention at Baltimore nominated him as their 
candidate for president of the United States, and in 
the November following he was elected, by a ma- 
jority over Mr. Clay of over sixty-four electoral 
votes; George M. Dallas being elected vice-presi- 
dent. On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was 
inaugurated. The most prominent event in his ad- 
ministration was the commencement and the suc- 
cessful termination of the war with Mexico, by 
which an immense portion of the Mexican territory, 
including California, came into the possession of the 
United States. 

Mr. Polk was not a candidate for reelection. On 
the 4th of March, 1849, he vacated the executive 
mansion, and with his amiable lady returned once 
more to the blessedness of private life. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

ESCENDED from James Taylor, who emi- 
grated from England to Virginia towards 
the close of seventeenth century. General 
Zachary Taylor was born in Orange county, 
Virginia, in the year 1790, and entered the 
United States army as a lieutenant, in 1808; 
he was then but eighteen years of age. He was at- 
tached to the seventh regiment of United States 
infantry, and in four years rose to the rank of cap- 
tain. In 1812 he was invested with the command 
of Fort Harrison, Indiana, which he defended with 
such valor that he was made major by brevet by 





3 "Jay 




ZACHARY TAYLOR. 205 

President Madison. In 1832 he was raised to the 
position of coloneL He subsequently played a con- 
spicuous part in the Florida war, winning, after the 
severest fight on record, the celebrated Indian bat- 
tle of Okee-cho-bee, for which he received the ap- 
pointment of brigadier-general. In 1845 he was 
ordered to Texas, and took up his position at Corpus 
Christi. He was instructed by the United States to 
repel any invasion of Texan territory. On the 11th 
of March, 1846, he moved westward, and reached 
the river Colorado, which he passed on the 22d, 
under an intimation from the Mexican general that 
such a step would be considered a declaration of 
war. On the 24th he reached Point Isabel. On the 
8th of May he met the Mexicans at Palo Alto, and 
on the 9th again defeated them at Resaca de la 
Palma. General Taylor immediately received the 
appointment of major-general by brevet. Monterey 
came next ; but the crowning glory of the whole 
campaign was the brilliantly fought battle of Buena 
Vista. 

Tiiis was the last, as it was the noblest, of Gene- 
ral Taylor's victories, and one, moreover, which 
placed him among the greatest generals of the age 
in which he lives. 

On the 1st of June, 1848, at a whig national 
convention, held at Philadelphia, General Taylor 
was nominated as president of the United States on 
the fourth ballot. The vote stood as follows; 

1st ballot. 2(\. 3d. 4th. 

Zachary Taylor, 111 118 133 171 

Henry Clay, 97 86 74 32 

Winfield Scott, 43 49 54 63 

Daniel Webster, 22 22 17 13 

John M. Clayton, • • • 4 4 1 

John McLean,* 2 

Total, 279 279 279 279 

* Withdrawn before. 



206 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

In November of the same year, he was elected by 
a kirg-c majority. He was inaugurated on the 4th 
of March, 1849. 



Taylor is the first of our presidents who bears an 
Old Testament name. The name of Zachary has 
not very frequently appeared appended to men in 
distinguished public life. More than a thousand 
years have intervened between the election of Pope 
Zachary and President Taylor. It is a curious cir- 
cumstance that the papal temporal dynasty was 
commenced in Rome under Zachary, 1107 years 
ago, and in the same year that the American Zach- 
ary is called to our presidential chair, the temporal 
power expires, and a new constitutional government 
is formed in Rome upon the basis of universal suf- 
rage. 



DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS. 




'ear the close of the last century, in the 
woods of New Hampshire, might have been 
seen a stern looking youth, in coarse attire, 
with a whip in his hand, shouting to a yoke of 
, oxen, or splitting wood for the winter's fire. 
Deprived of all the advantages of education, except 
those afforded by a common school, and shut out 
from the world by a dense forest, how could it have 
been supposed that the voice of one so lowly would 
ever echo in tones of soul-chaining eloquence 
throuorh the halls of congress, or that his sagacious 




X 



208 DANIEL WEBSTER. 

counsels in the cabinet, would place him among 
the first statesmen of the world. Yet this came to 
pass, and Daniel Webster, by the energy of a deter- 
mined will, has literally worked his way from the 
plow to the senate; and as a lawyer and states- 
man, has become the admiration of all Europe. 
As has been truly observed, such men as he, have 
become great, not so much from the facilities for a 
common knowledge, which our systems of educa- 
tion afford, as from the se//-reliance which a sense 
of freedom confers. The moment you make a man 
politically equal to his fellow, you give him a con- 
sciousness that he is so in all respects. This is the 
source of confidence. And how many, from a want 
of this royal egotism, have smothered thoughts of 
fire, and died victims to their unsatisfied yearnings. 
Confidence rolls the stone from the sepulchre, and 
liberates the imprisoned deity of mind. 

Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, in the 
state of New Hampshire, at the head of the Merri- 
mac river, on the 1 8th of January, 1782. His father, 
who was a farmer, was at one period an officer of 
the revolution, and for many years judge of the 
court of common pleas. Like his son he was a 
man of strongly marked character, full of decision, 
integrity, firmness, and good sense. The early 
youth of Daniel was passed in the midst of the 
forest, where the means for forming the character 
we now witness in him, seemed absolutely wanting; 
and but for the characteristic policy of New Eng- 
land, which carries its free schools into the wilder- 
ness, he would have passed the " mute inglorious 
life," which is entailed upon the peasantry of less 
favored countries. Struggling always with diffi- 
culties, and by great sacrifices on the part of his 
family, he entered Dartmouth college, where he 
graduated in 1801, at the age of nineteen, and even 
at this early period, so far as learning was concerned, 
he had outstripped every competitor. He com- 



• DANIEL WEBSTER. 209 

menced the study of law in his native town, and 
completed it in 1805 at Boston, in the office of 
Mr. Gore, afterwards governor of Massachusetts. 
Mr. Webster then returned to his native state and 
commenced practice in the small village of Bos- 
cawen. In 1807, he removed to Portsmouth, the 
commercial capital of New Hampshire. There by 
coming into collision with the leading counsel at 
that place, men of the first order of mind, he went 
through a stern intellectual training, and acquired 
that unsparing logic, for which he is now so dis- 
tinguished. 

At the age of thirty, in 1812, after the declaration 
of war, he was elected as one of the representatives 
from New Hampshire to the 13th congress. In 
1816, after an arduous public service of four years, 
Mr. Webster determined to return for a time, to 
private life. In 1813, by the disastrous fire at Ports- 
mouth, he sustained a heavy pecuniary loss, which 
the opportunities offered by his profession in New 
Hampshire, were not likely to repair. He therefore 
in the summer of 1816, removed to Boston, Avhich 
has since been his principal place of residence. 
Here his success at the bar soon surpassed his most 
sanguine expectations, and he rapidly ascended 
that eminence where so few have been able to fol- 
low. In 1820, he was a member of the convention 
for revising the constitution of Massachusetts, and 
on the 22d of December in the same vear, being; 
the two hundreth anniversary of the landing of the 
pilgrims at Plymouth, Mr. Webster, by the sure 
indication of the public will, was summoned to that 
consecrated spot, and in an address, which is the 
gravest of his published works, "so spoke of the 
centuries past, that the centuries yet to come shall 
receive and remember his words." Again in 1825, 
fifty years from the day when the solemn drama of 
the American revolution was opened on Bunker's 
hill, Mr. Webster stood there and interpreted to 

27 



210 DANIEL WEBSTER. 

assembled thousands, the feelings with which that 
great event will for ever be regarded. Again too, 
in the summer of 1826, he was called upon to com- 
memorate the services which Adams and Jetierson 
had rendered, when they carried through the De- 
claration of Independence, and which they so mys- 
teriously sealed by their common death, exactly 
half a century afterwards. And finally on the 22d 
of February, 1832, at the completion of a century 
from the birth of Washington, and in the city which 
bears his name, Mr. Webster exhibited him to the 
country as standing at the head alike of a new 
world, and of a new era in the history of man. 
These four occasions were all memorable; and the 
genius of Mr. Webster has sent them down, marked 
with its impress, to posterity. 

Having again served in the 17th and 18tli con- 
gress, in 1826 he was reelected from the same dis- 
trict a third time; bat before he had taken his seat, 
a vacancy having occurred in the senate, he was 
chosen without any regular opposition to fill it, an 
honor which was again conferred upon liim in 1833 
by a sort of general consent and acclamation. How 
he bore himself as a senator, in the great and vital 
questions which came up for discussion, is too well 
known to require a detailed account. 

We can not however refrain from quoting an ac- 
count of the debate on the tariff question in 1833, 
when Mr. Webster made his great effort in reply to 
Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. It is thus de- 
scribed by a writer in the National Magazine : 

" The nullilication fever had risen almost frenzy 
high. Members of all parties had deserted the 
lower house to witness the splintering of lances be- 
tween Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, and 
Daniel Webster. When we entered the hall, Gen. 
Hayne was speaking. He was a man of general 
youthful appearance, with his shirt collar turned 
over his cravat, and his hair smoothly brushed 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 211 

across his forehead. He was of the middle stature, 
and well made. He was speaking energetically; 
his eyes were peculiarly brilliant, and his face was 
extremely pale; he moved up and down the aisles 
formed between the desks, with a rapid and agita- 
ted step; his gestures were vehement, and he ap- 
peared to be under a high state of excitement. We 
were peculiarly struck with bis whole appearance, 
and the tone of feeling evident in the chamber. 
Mr. Calhoun, then vice-president, was in the chair. 
With his large, steady and vigilant eyes witnessing 
the first great battle of his doctrine, he seemed the 
very spirit of embodied interest; not a word, not a 
gesture of Gen. Hayne escaped his lion look. The 
senate was deeply interested, as a matter of course. 
The language of Gen. Hayne was rich and vigo- 
rous; and his powerful sketch of the effect of the 
impost law on the south — the description he gave 
of her people — his own bold and hazardous elocu- 
tion and impetuous bearing — were evidently mak- 
ing a strong impression on the body. From time 
to time, attention would be directed from him to 
the gentleman who was expected to answer him, 
and whom Gen. Hayne attacked, under cover of a 
terrible and galling fire. 

Cold, serene, dark, and melancholy, that man, 
thus assailed, sat apart, bleak and fi-owning as a 
mountain rock; he evidently felt the gigantic influ- 
ences that were at work around him, but his pro- 
found mind was strengthening itself for the contest. 
And how deeply solemn was that hour, that mo- 
ment ! how grand that scene ! and what were the 
meditations and spirit-rallyings of that dark man! 
His countenance wavered not during the whole of 
that tremendous speech; assault after assault was 
made upon him, but yet he neither turned to the 
right nor left, but calmly and gallantly, like a sol- 
dier waiting the signal, he bided his hour. That 
time of retaliation came, swift as the thoughts of 



212 DANIEL WEBSTER. 

vengeance, to Daniel "Webster. Who will forget 
the exordium of that remarkable efibrt, the lashincr 
sarcasm, the withering tones of that voice, and the 
temper of his language? General Hayne (we re- 
member distinctly,) changed color, and appeared 
much disconcerted. But who that heard him Avill 
permit the peroration to be forgotten? those closing 
passages of grandeur, that majestic allusion to the 
flag of freedom and his country. Looking, with his 
dark and lustrous eye, through the glass dome of 
the chamber, over which he could see that banner 
floating, he delivered an apostrophe, which has 
never been surpassed, and seldom equalled. It 
composed a figure of the miost thrilling interest — a 
burst of solemn and pathetic feeling; and, coming 
from such a som'ce (a man generally esteemed 
phlegmatic), it was electric. It was like the beam 
of sunset, or the gleam of summer lightning, radia- 
ting the brow of the cliff to which we have above 
alluded." 

At the presidential election of 1836, Mr. Webster 
received the vote of Massachusetts for the presi- 
dency. 

In 1839, Mr. "Webster visited England, where he 
was received in the most flattering manner, his re- 
reputation having become universal. Returning 
home he took a prominent part in the great presi- 
dential contest of 1840, which eventuated in the de- 
feat of the democratic party. He was called to the 
first place in the cabinet, by President Harrison, 
with the full approbation of the triumphant party. 
After General Harrison's death, Mr. Webster con- 
tinued secretary of state under President Tyler, and 
did not retire from that office when his colleagues 
resigned their places, after the bill enacting a na- 
tional bank had been refused the executive sanc- 
tion. Mr. Webster had entered the cabinet, it is 
understood, with the intention of settling several 
questions connected with foreign affairs and our 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 213 

commercial policy; and he very properly did not 
think it necessary to lose sight of these, in a contest 
relating solely to matters connected with our do- 
mestic financial policy. It would be nnjust to Mr. 
"Webster to omit to say, that his opinions on great 
questions underwent no change because of his re- 
maining in the cabinet; and he left that body so 
soon as Mr. Tyler showed a determination to favor 
the democracy, and had commenced those move- 
ments which resulted in the annexation of Texas. 
He was secretary of state more than two years, dur- 
ing which time the north-eastern boundary question 
was settled, and a source of irritation between the 
United States and England dried up. 

Mr. Webster remained about two years in private 
life, when he was again elected to the United States 
senate by the legislature of Massachusetts, in place 
of Mr. Choate. His term of service will expire in 
185 1. 

Mr. Webster is a member of a Christian church. 
He is the devoted friend of the Bible, and its warm 
defender. He remembers the sabbath, and rever- 
ences the sanctuary, and is the true friend of the 
ministry of Christ. He is the liberal supporter of 
the gospel at home and abroad. These things cor- 
respond with a sentiment, which he publicly ex- 
pressed, " the fear of God, after all, is the beginning 
of wisdom." 




214 • JLVDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 

EELINGLY and truthfully is 
the cause of literary women 
advocated in the following ob- 
||> servations: 

That women sometimes publish 
from the impulse of vanity, it were 
useless to deny; but, in such cases, the effort is 
usually worthy of the motive: it touches no heart, 
because it emanates from none; it kindles no pure 
imao^ination, it excites no holy impulses, because 
the impulse from which it originated is neither lofty 
nor worthy. It may be safely asserted, that no 
woman who has written or published from the 
promptings of ambition or vanity, alone, was ever 
successful, or ever will be. She may gain notoriety, 
but that is a consequence of authorsliip, which must 
be ever painful to a woman of true genius, unless is 
added to it that public respect and private afiection, 
which can never be secured by wish alone. 

Literature is an honorable profession, and that 
women devote a portion of their time to it, requires 
neither excuse nor palliation, so long as they pre- 
serve the delicacy and gentleness which are the at- 
tributes of their sex. So long as the dignity and 
delicacy of sex is preserved, there can be no compe- 
tition between men and women of genius. In 
literature, as in every thing else, the true woman 
will feel how much better it is to owe something to 
the protection, generosity and forbearance of the 
stronger and sterner sex, than to enter into an un- 
natural strife in the broad arena which men claim 
for the trial of masculine intellect. Open the foun- 
tains of domestic love to her, and there is little dan- 
ger that her genius will stray from the sunny nooks 
of literature, or that she will forsake the pure wells 





yrvitacb'by C. Thomas- 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 215 

of affection, to leap into the high-road of politics; 
to lose her identity in the smoke of a battle-field, 
or to gather up popular applause and unsatisfactory 
admiration, in place of tenderness, and all those 
home comforts which cling so naturally around the 
feminine heart. 

It has been beautifully said, that the heart is 
woman's dominion. Cast her not forth, then, from 
the little kingdom which she may do so much to 
purify and embellish. Her gentle culture has kept 
many of those rugged passes green, where sterner 
laborers might have left them sterile and blossom- 
less. If you would cultivate genius aright, cherish 
it among the most holy of your household gods. 
Make it a domestic plant. Let its roots strike deep 
in 3^our home, nor care that its perfume floats to a 
thousand casements besides your own, so long as 
its greenness and its blossoms are for you. Flowers 
of the sweetest breath give their perfume most lav- 
ishly to the breeze, yet without exhausting their 
own delicate urns. Why then should you refuse to 
gather the mantle of domestic love about the woman 
of genius? 

Why do they write? Why does the bird sing 
but that its little heart is gushing over with melody ? 
Why does the flower blossom, but that it has been 
drenched with dew, and kindled up by the sunshine, 
until its perfume bursts the petals, and lavishes its 
sweetness on the air ? Why does the artist become 
restless with a yearning want, as the creatures of 
his fancy spring to life beneath his pencil? When 
his ideal has taken to itself a form of beauty, does 
he rest till some kindred eye has gazed with his 
upon the living canvas? His heart is full of a 
strange joy, and he would impart something of that 
joy to another. Is this vanity? No, it is a beauti- 
ful desire for sympathy. The feelings may partake 
of a love of praise, but it is one which would be 
degraded by the title of ambition. 



216 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 

Ask any woman of g-enins why she writes, and 
she will tell you it is because she can not help it; 
that there are times when a power which she can 
neither comprehend nor resist, impels her to the 
sweet exercise of her intellect; that at such mo- 
ments there is happiness in the very exertion; a 
thrilling excitement which, makes the action of 
thought "its own exceeding reward;" that her 
heart is crowded with feelings which pant for lan- 
guage and for sympathy, and that ideas gush up 
from the mind unsought and uncalled for, as the 
waters leap from their fount when the earth is de- 
luged with moisture. I am almost certain that the 
most beautiful things that enrich our literature, 
have sprung to life from the sweet, irresistible im- 
pulse for creation, which pervaded the heart of the 
author, without motive and without aim. 

The motives which urge literary women to pub- 
lish, are probably as various as those which lead 
persons to any other calling. Many may place 
themselves before the world from a natural and 
strictly feminine thirst for sympathy; from the 
same feeling which prompts a generous boy to call 
his companions about him when he has found a 
robbin's nest, hid away among the blossoming 
boughs of an old apple tree, or a bed of ripe straw- 
berries melting in their own ruby light through the 
grass, on a hill-side. The discovery would be al- 
most valueless, could he find none to gaze on the 
blue eggs exposed in the bottom of the nest, or to 
revel with him in the luscious treasure of the straw- 
berry bed; so the enjoyment of a mental discovery 
is enhanced by companionship and appreciation. 

This most distingushed literary lady in America, 
and one whose fame is of larger standing than any 
of her female contemporaries, is a native of Norwich, 
Connecticut. She was born on the 1st of Septem- 
ber, 1791. 

She was an only child. Her parents were not 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 217 

rich, which makes the respect which they received 
from the prosperous and wealthy around them, still 
more creditable to them. Especially is it honorable 
to the subject of this sketch, who had no birthright 
but her genius and a good name, and yet has 
reached a position which mere wealth must envy in 
vain. The rugged energies of men very often flour- 
ish best in defiance of fortune. Poverty and obscu- 
rity spur faculties which would languish amid 
wealth and luxury. But it is very rare that one of 
the softer sex is able to win for herself all the ad- 
vantages which fortune has denied her. But Mrs. 
Sigonrney is one of these exceptions. 

Her mother's name before marriage was A\'ent- 
worth, whose descent has been distinctly traced, 
first to the old tory governors of New Hampshire, 
who were especially honored for their loyalty by 
the crown of England, and subsequently, through 
an immense line of ancestors to the great earl of 
Straftbrd, whose lordly head was bro Light to the 
block during the reign of Charles First. She pos- 
sessed much natural vivacity, not a little beauty 
of person, and a powerful memory. She did not, 
however, enjoy the advantages of an early regular 
education; so that her daughter was compelled to 
rely upon her own instincts in estimating the im- 
portance of mental acquisition and in resolving to 
make it. 

Mr. Huntley, father of Mrs. Sigourney, was of 
Scotch descent. He enlisted early as a soldier in our 
revolutionary struggle, and joined the first regiment 
who marched, in 1775, from the eastern part of the 
state of Connecticut, under Gen. Jedediah Hunting- 
ton. He afterwards retired to his small farm, which 
he cultivated with a view both to profit and to 
taste. His circumstances, as we have already 
hinted, were not aflluent, but were such as to 
make industry necessary, beneficence practica- 
ble and luxury impossible. They exhibited most 

28 



218 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 

faithfully the aurea mediocrilas of Horace. He was 
faithful durins: life to one rule: to "owe no man 
anything." He never bought, without paying the 
price on the spot, and enforced the same rule in re- 
spect to the purchases made by his family. He was 
remarkable, perhaps, more than for anything else, 
for his placid disposition. No hasty word ever rose 
to his lips or angry flush to his cheek. This equa- 
nimity seems to be most fully inherited by his 
daughter. His piety was fervent, and his benevo- 
lence was requited by the love and respect of all 
who knew him. He lived to reach his eighty-eighth 
year, retaining to the end, an elastic step, a florid 
cheek, and bright, brown hair, unsprinkled to the 
last. He died on the 13th of August, 1839. His 
wife's death had already occurred in 1833. The 
aftectionate daughter of this worthy pair had the 
sad satisfaction of closing the eyes of both under 
her own roof 

Our materials for sketching the early life of Mrs. 
Sigourney are by no means full, but are unquestion- 
ably accurate, having been derived from a person 
acquainted with Miss Huntley in her younger days, 
and, like her, a native of Norwich. Persons gene- 
rally expect to hear of some extraordinary develop- 
ment of precocity in the childhood of genius, 
although mere precocity proves very little, and dis- 
appoints quite as often as gratifies the hopes predi- 
cated upon it. But Lydia Huntley n-as a precocious 
child. At the age of three she read the Bible well. 
At the age of seven or eight she began to show the 
splendid bias of her mind, and composed verses for 
her own amusement. This habit she continued, for 
years, in connection with another quite as remarka- 
ble — that of concealing them. Committing them 
to her private journal, as if they were a part of the 
record of her life and feelings, she kept them as 
sacred only to herself Perhaps here is the secret 
of that truth to herself, to her own heart, which we 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 219 

have already explained as being the distinguishing 
excellence of Mrs. Sigourney's writings. She was 
an only child, and had no playmates. This drove 
her to seek companionship in books, and made her 
diary the confidante of her childhood. But we are 
in advance of our story. 

Mrs. Sigourney's early life is inseparably woven 
with that of one of those benevolent ladies of the 
olden time, whose good qualities of heart ought 
to be more estimable than genius. We allude to 
Madam Lathrop, a daughter of Hon. John Talcott, 
once governor of Connecticut, and a resident of 
Hartford. She was the widow of Dr. D. Lathrop, 
of Norwich. Mr. Huntley, father of Mrs. Sigour- 
ney, acted as the steward of this excellent lady 
until her death, and lived with his wife in the fine 
family mansion, where their only daughter was 
born. Madam Lathrop had lost her own children, 
while they were quite young, and seemed to pour 
upon this lovely and timid child of genius all the 
wealth of her best affections, for fourteen years. 
Here the latter was surrounded with many advan- 
tages which her parents could never have afforded 
her. The house of her benefactress was the favo- 
rite resort of distinguished persons, both of Con- 
necticut and the other states of the Union. Litro- 
duced into such society and nurtured in such an 
atmosphere. Madam Lathrop's ward could not, with 
her fine natural delicacy, have failed to imbibe the 
characteristics of true gentility. And richly have 
those germs of character matured, for never for a 
moment could any one doubt the perfect aftability, 
the ladylikenessof Mrs. Sigourney's manners. She 
is respectful without the slightest loss of conscious 
self-respect, and condescending to the humblest 
without seeming to condescend. She had a good 
school and was a good scholar. Her benefactress 
also had a small library, selected with the purest 
taste, from which the young Lydia drew untainted 



220 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 

sweetness. And yet, what heart however loving-, 
or mind however sagacious, wonld have recognized 
in this youngs girl, remarkable for the delicate rich- 
ness of her cheek and the sweet docility of her dis- 
position — as she sat in herUttle chair, reading alond 
to her beloved benefactress from Young's Night 
Thoughts or Bishop Sherlock's discourses — or curi- 
ously conning her own rude rhymes at eight years 
of age — or running in glee over the turf of the court 
yard in front of the mansion, decked with roses and 
sweet briar, of Madam Lathrop — or rushing through 
the spruce-arched gate-way — or sweeping floors with 
elaborate skill — or trying to iron — or steadying the 
fruit-tree that her father was planting — or dropping 
the garden-seeds behind him — or spinning upon her 
mother's great wheel — ever accompanying her 
childish industry with a happy song — the future 
Hemans of America? Who would have guessed 
that she would in latter years be the admired of 
the great — the confidential correspondent of Han- 
nah More — a friend of Joanna Bailie and the count- 
ess of Blessington — the recipient of costly gifts from 
royalty in honor of her muse — the most famous of 
the female bards of her country? Surely, none 
would have guessed the secret of the future. 

Miss Huntley enjoyed the best advantages of a 
school education, which were furnished in her vi- 
cinity. Modern schemes have materially widened 
the range of studies to be pursued by young ladies 
— in some cases to a miraculous extent. But half 
a century ago, few studies were pursued by girls, and 
in these they were most thoroughly taught. All 
experience demonstrates the superior wisdom of the 
latter course. For although the ancient range of 
study might wisely be made more ample, yet no 
modern improvement will do away the necessity of 
learning thoroughly whatever is learned at all. 

Then, too, the sexes were not, contrary to the law 
of nature as developed in the family, penned up 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 221 

apart, to take away from one the stimnloiis of mas- 
culine streniijth and from the other the softening 
influences of female delicacy. We remember that 
we once heard Mrs. Sigourney say distinctly, that 
one of the most profitable periods of her early cult- 
ure was that, in which she, with several other young 
ladies, successfully struggled to retain their places 
with honor in a class, containing several young men 
of talent, who were pursuing at school the studies of 
the first year in Yale college. Perhaps we ought 
to add, that one of the young gentlemen of this 
class was afterwards a judge of the supreme court 
of Connecticut, and a senator of the United States 
■ — the late lamented Jabez W. Huntington. An- 
other was Hon. Henry Strong, still an eminent law- 
yer of the same state. We regret, that we do not 
know the name of Miss Huntley's instructor. 

Miss Huntley was, of course, successful in school. 
The acquisition of knowledge was her amusement 
and she swept, with the monopoly of merit, all the 
rare prizes and micdals and badges of school honor. 

Imagine then her distress, when her parents, per- 
suaded by some notable persons that more learning 
than she had acquired would inevitably unfit a girl 
for a contented discharge of domestic duties, re- 
moved her from school at the tender age of thirteen. 
The disappointed child sought in needle-work and 
in the ever-favorite pen a solace for the sad change. 

The next year, her fifteenth, was made mournful- 
ly memorable by the death of her beloved benefac- 
tress, Madame Lathrop, at the age of 88. A deep 
sorrow for the first time touched her child's heart. 
But the good old lady did not leave her charge com- 
fortless. She bequeathed to the young mourner a 
friend, — such a friend as rarely fiills to the lot of a 
mortal, — a friend, who, although an exquisite and 
costly stone edifice proudly commemorates his be- 
nificence and is inscribed with his name, ought 
ever to be remembered as the Maecenas of the sub- 



222 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 

ject of this sketch. Many a humble heart remem- 
bers his beneficence: persons, who have risen to 
wealth and distinction, recall with pride the en- 
courao^ement he gave to their youthful struggles; 
the Wadsworth Atheneum, — with its vast library 
for young men, valuable historical collection and 
excellent gallery of paintings, — stands on the site 
of his own ancestral mansion: but Daniel Wads- 
worth would go down to posterity, without other 
aids, as that of the honored benefactor of the most 
distinguished female writer of our country. He 
was a nephew of Madam Lathrop, the son of a 
commissary general of the revolutionary army, and 
the inheriter of vast wealth, which, as Heaven and 
men will bear him witness, was well used. He 
died only a few months since in the city of his resi- 
dence, Hartford, Connecticut, and his death was 
mourned as a public calamity. 

Mr. Huntley, after the death of Madam Lathrop, 
bought a small estate of his own, and his daughter, 
at about the same time, made her first visit to Hart- 
ford, where she now resides. She returned and 
lived with her parents, making occasional journeys 
to Hartford, for some years. During this time she 
became fired with ambition to become a teacher, 
and was happy in the extreme when she enjoyed 
the privilege of teaching, for six hours a day during 
a single summer, two young ladies, in her father's 
house. So enthusiastic was she in the instruction 
of her two pupils, as to have a regular public exami- 
nation of them, at the end of the term, tor the grati- 
fication of their friends. Being desirous to perfect 
herself in the art of teaching, she, with a female 
friend, went to Hartford to learn the accomplish- 
ments of drawing, painting and embroidery. Short- 
ly after, in connection with her fi-iend, she instruct- 
ed a large school of young ladies. Her associate 
was Miss Ann Maria Hyde, whose biography, from 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 223 

the pen of Mrs. Sigourney, appeared in a late Maga- 
zine. 

The annual election in Connecticut — meaning 
the occasion of the governor's inauguration, which 
takes place one month after his eleciion by the suf- 
frages of his fellow-citizens — is celebrated to the 
present time with considerable pomp. It was dur- 
ing the election festivities of 1814, that Miss Hunt- 
ley was invited to spend a few weeks with Madam 
Wadsworth, the mother of Mr. Daniel Wadsworth. 
He found out how agreeable a charge had been 
confided to him by his deceased relative and pre- 
vailed upon her to stay in Hartford and study 
French. Soon after, he obtained for her a select 
school for young ladies, which she instructed for 
several years with great success and delight. It 
was for her pupils that she composed some of her 
most beautiful prose pieces — pieces which will be 
current in rhetorical works for the instruction of the 
young while the English language lasts. Most of 
our young readers will remember the solemn rhap- 
sody, beginning thus: "I have seen a man in the 
glory of his strength." While Miss Huntley Was 
engaged in teaching in Hartford, she resided in the 
elegant mansion of Madam Wadsworth, until 1817, 
when this estimable lady died at the age of 84. 
Her character was pure and her talents good. We 
have in our possession a copy of Mrs. Sigourney's 
beautiful tribute to this benefactress, finely printed 
on silk. 

During her residence in this family, she found the 
first encouragement to write which had ever been 
tendered to her genius. Mr. A¥adsworth found 
out her habit of writing and concealing verses, 
and, struck with amazement at her i^roficiency, de- 
termined upon their publication. He extracted 
from the journals which she had commenced keep- 
ing at the age of eleven, such pieces as pleased 
his fancy — literally copying many of them with his 



224 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOUKNEY. 

own hand. His excellent wife, whose memory 
is held by hundreds of the sons and daughters 
of want to be sainted, assisted in this generous 
task. Mr. Wadsworth then made personal efforts 
to procure subscriptions for the publication of the 
collection — inasmuch as to publish a literary work 
in those days without subscriptions was equivalent 
to paying a high price for oblivion in advance. He 
succeeded admirably, and she received from the 
edition of her Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse, 
published in 1815, a larger sum than ever accrued 
to her from any single edition of any of her other 
writings. The dutiful daughter, with overwhelm- 
ing joy, laid the first fruits of her genius at the feet 
of her aged and straitened parents. She enjoyed 
the friendship of Mr. Wadsworth and his lady (who 
died in 1846) until the death of both. Mrs. Wads- 
worth was the daughter of the first Governor Trum- 
bull. Mr. Wadsworth departed this life last sum- 
mer, aged 77. 

Mrs. Sigourney's literary life was now fairly be- 
gun and her fame grew apace. She published 
many useful and instructive works — one a tribute 
to her friend, Miss Hyde, and another, to her bene- 
factress. Madam Lathrop. Her works were full of 
religious and moral lessons, in which lay her forte. 
In 1819, she was married to Mr. Charles Sigourney, 
a merchant of Hartford, who in early life, at least, 
possessed strong literary predilections, which he 
cultivated with ardor. Mr. Sigourney is of Hugue- 
not descent, and was educated in England. The 
wedded pair lived in one of the most beautiful spots 
in Connecticut — known to the present time as 
Sigourney Place on Lord's hill, Hartford. It lies on 
a delicious slope finely planted with trees and shrubs, 
and skirted on one side by a high hedge, on the 
other with a pleasant mill stream. On one side is a 
wood, and in the rear rich open fields. Mrs. Sigour- 
ney became the mother of two children and still 



LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 225 

continued to make additions to the literature of the 
country; having issued from the press, first and 
last, thirty-five volumes. Some unforeseen changes 
made it necessary for Mrs. Sigourney, as much to 
the regret of the public as herself, to leave, in the 
Slimmer of 1838, her beautiful residence. But it 
will ever bear her name. 

In 1840, Mrs. Sigourney made a voyage to Eu- 
rope, where she staid more than a year, making the 
acquaintance and winning the good will of some of 
the greatest characters of the day. She has since 
enjoyed a correspondence with some of the first la- 
dies of Europe. A long time since, we were favor- 
ed with the perusal of some passages, in epistles 
from persons of distinction in England, Scotland, 
and Sweden, honorable to our country, and proving 
that American genius is sure to make America re- 
spected. A piece, written by her in honor of the 
magnificent celebration of the return of Napoleon's 
remains from St. Helena, so pleased the queen of 
France, that she acknowledged her appreciation of 
it by the gift of a magnificent bracelet. While 
abroad, Mrs. Sigourney published two volumes in 
London which were warmly praised. Soon after 
her return, she gave some of her impressions of Eu- 
rope in the volume entitled Pleasant Memoirs of 
Pleasant Lands. 

We have much more to say, and fain would we 
quote illustrations of Mrs. Sigourney's character and 
genius from her writings. But our limits forbid, at 
least, for the present. She has now arrived at full 
maturity of age, yet her complexion still retains a , 
soft ruddy glow, and her brown hair has not a 
speck of grey. Her profile is unusually classical. 
Her eyes are of a light grey. Her expression is the 
soul of amiability, and years have not affected the 
freshness of her spirit or the sparkle of her mind. 
Summery and genial as the air of June, her dispo- 
sition is such as to win the stranger and attach 

29 



226 



JOHN E. WOOL. 



friends to her as with chords of steel. May she live 
long to honor — by her character and genius — the 
women of America — 

"Hemans in mind, and Hannah More in heart." 

Lnterary Magazine. 




JOHN E. WOOL. 

^xi>,>>> RIGHT and unfading are the laurels of 
this distinguished general, although he 
may not have been brought so promi- 
nently before the public as some of his 
brethren in command. An examina- 
tion of his career since he entered our army, 
will show that he possesses military talents 
of the very highest order. Nor is he more 
remarkable for these than for the virtues of so- 
cial life. He is equally estimable as a soldier 
and as a citizen. 
General Wool is a native of the state of Ncav 
York. His family were whigs of the revolution. 
He was born in Orange county, but has resided in 
Rensselaer county since his early childhood. Hav- 
ing lost his father at that period, he was taken in 
charge by his grandfather, with whom he lived till 
he was twelve years of age. He then removed to 
the city of Troy (where his family now dwell), to 
acquire a knowledge of business, with a view to 
his becoming a merchant. In that city he prose- 
cuted this profession with success, until the loss of 
his property by fire gave a different direction to the 
energy which distinguished him as a merchant. 
He accepted a commission as captain in the 13th 
regiment of United States infantry. He has thus 
been truly the founder of his own fortune and fame. 




^-C^^.^^ ^/'^^ 



JOHN E. WOOL. 227 

His commission bears date April, 1812. Having 
raised a company in Troy, he made his military 
debut at the heig-hts of Queenston. Previous to 
that remarkable action, our army had suffered so 
many reverses as to occasion the imputation of mis- 
conduct and cowardice against our officers and 
troops, and therefore it was thought necessary to 
make some brilliant effort in order to redeem their 
character, and to raise in the country a proper spirit 
for prosecuting the war. Accordingly Major-Gen. 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, who had received the 
command of the militia of the state of New York, 
on the Niagara frontier, and had established his 
head-quarters at Lewiston, determined to storm the 
heights of Queenston, a formidable post, fortified 
and held by a part of the British army. A first de- 
tachment of six hundred men was despatched on 
this hazardous service, under the command of Col. 
Van Rensselaer, aid-de-camp to the general, and 
Lt.-Col. Chrystie. In the detachment were Capt. 
Wool and three companies of the 13th. When 
they arrived at the Niagara river, it was found that 
there was not a sufficient number of boats to trans- 
port more than half of them. Col. Van Rensselaer 
crossed. Chrystie remained behind; but the three 
companies of the 13th, which were a part of his 
command, accompanied Van Rensselaer. Their 
captains were Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong. On 
Captain Wool the command of these devolved, and 
never did young officer and soldiers bear themselves 
more gallantly under the most trying circumstances. 
A band of fewer than three hundred were about to 
attack a position of extraordinary strength. Their 
setting foot on the Canadian side of the river was 
the signal for a tremendous fire from the enemy. 
But onward and upward they struggled. In the 
desperate encounter nearly every officer and many 
of the soldiers in Captain Wool's command were 
killed or wounded. He himself was shot through 



228 JOHN E. WOOL. 

both thighs. But now was not the time to yield. 
Col. A^an Rensselar was supposed to be mortally 
wounded, and was fast sinking from loss of blood. 
Wool sought him and requested permission to con- 
tinue the assault. The colonel was unwilling to 
entrust the fate of the affair to a young officer who 
was for the first time on the field; but reluctantly 
consented. The excitement of the occasion and 
the importance of the object imparted strength to the 
fliint and wearj^ band. They climbed the heights 
and the British were driven down from the batte- 
ries. General Brock, at Fort George, hearing the 
noise of the conflict, set out with a party to assist 
his countrymen. On their arrival, some one in the 
wing commanded by Captain AVool raised a white 
flag, as if demanding a cessation of hostilities. 
AVool struck it down, tranipled it on the ground, 
and rallying our forces by a desperate effort, once 
more charged the British, reinforced though they 
were, and once more drove them from the heights. 
Brock was slain — a panic seized the British — they 
abandoned their position and fled. 

Thus opened the brilliant career of General Wool. 
His daring and military genius were at once 
conspicuous, and proved him to be one to whom 
his country could look with confidence in any 
emergency that might call her sons into the field. 

For his gallant conduct at Queenston he was 
promoted to the rank of major, and assigned to the 
2yth regiment of foot. The northern frontier was 
the principal theatre of action for this regiment. 
Major Wool uniformly volunteered his services 
wherever and whenever duty and danger led. But 
the battle of Plattsburgh, which included the en- 
gagements by land and water, between the Ameri- 
can and British forces, in September, 1814, present- 
ed to him an opportunity for distinction such as 
rarely occurred during the war. Fighting com- 
menced on the 6th, and continued to the lltli of 



JOHN E. WOOL. 229 

the month. On the morning of the 6th was fonght 
the action of Beckmantown. Of this action AVool 
was the hero. With a force of only 250 regular 
troops, he kept a British column of 4000 in check 
while our forces, under General Macomb, were 
entrenching themselves beyond the Saranac. He 
evinced all the coolness and intrepidity which he 
had manifested at Queenston; and his gallant re- 
sistance was of the last importance to our cause. 
Had the British light brigade been able to cross the 
river, it is impossible to calculate what might have 
been the result, both on Lake Cham plain and on 
the shore. The order given by General Macomb to 
Major Wool was to support the militia, and set them 
an example of firmness.* This order was obeyed 
to the letter. For more than five miles along the 
Beekmantown road the ground was contested inch 
by inch, and the militia, reassured by the example 
of the regulars, supported the honor of their country. 
Nearly three hundred of the enemy fell, killed or 
wounded, between Beekmantown and the Saranac. 
For his services in this battle Major Wool was bre- 
veted lieutenant-colonel. 

On the 11th of September, 1843, the anniversary 
of these engagements was celebrated at Plattsburgh. 
The occasion was extraordinary. The citizens of 
Plattsburgh and the military association of Clinton 
county, had resolved to erect monuments in memo- 
ry not only of the American, but also of the British 
officers who fell in the battle. General Wool was 
present as a guest, by special invitation, and the 
president of the day, in assigning the erection of 
the several monuments to different individuals, 
appointed Wool to raise that which is sacred to the 
memory of Colonel Wellington, of the British Buffs, 
• who fell at Culver's hill, on the Beekmantown 
road, on the morning of the 6th of September, 1814. 

* See General Macomb's official report of the battle, dated 15th Sep- 
tember, 1814. 



230 JOHN E. WOOL. 

Colonel D. B. McNiel, in adverting to the propriety 
of this appointment, spoke in the highest terms of 
the bravery and generosity of General Wool. 

To tl)is speech General Wool made a feeling and 
eloquent reply. 

At the dinner which followed the solemnities of 
the day, General Skinner, after a complimentary 
address, proposed as a sentiment, " Gen. Wool, the 
hero of Beekmantown, as well as of Queenston — 

'Ilis laurels are green, though his locks are gray.'" 

This having been responded to with the greatest 
enthusiasm, General Wool after a suitable reply 
offered the following sentiment — 

"The citizens of Plattsburgh and the military 
association of Clinton county — This day attest 
their magnanimity and greatness of soul, by the 
homage paid to the illustrious dead who fell fighting 
the battles of their country." 

At the expiration of the war, Lieut. Colonel Wool 
continued in the army, and in 1816 was commis- 
sioned inspector-general, with the rank of colonel. 
Ten years after he was made brigadier-general by 
bre/et. In 1841 he was commissioned a brigadier- 
general, and appointed to the command of the east- 
ern division of the army. In this station he re- 
mained until the war with Mexico opened a new 
theatre for action. 

During the long interval between the two wars, 
he was constantly engaged in some important ser- 
vice. As inspector-general his duties for about 
twenty-five years were connected with every depart- 
ment of the military establishment in the United 
States and her territories, extending from Eastport, 
in Maine, to the gulf of Mexico, and fi-om the 
Atlantic to Council Bluffs. When he was appoint- " 
ed, there were no white settlements north-west of 
Detroit. There were military posts established at 
Mackinac, Sault St. Marie, Chicago, Green Bay, 



JOHN E. WOOL. 231 

Prairie du Chien, St. Peters, on the upper Missis- 
sippi, 2200 miles from its month, Council Bluffs, 
some 1800 miles up the Missouri; and posts on the 
Arkansas 600 miles from its outlet, and on the Red 
river 400. 

All these were within the limits of his tours of 
inspection, which annually embraced an entire dis- 
tance of from seven to ten thousand miles. There 
were no means of reaching the posts but by canoes 
and on horseback, with provisions packed for a 
journey of months through the wilderness. The 
dangers, privations and hardships, unavoidable in 
traversing lakes, rivers, and forests by such means, 
and often with Indian guides, whose fidelity might 
admit of some suspicion, and always without shelter 
or any resting place but the earth and a blanket, 
can hardly be realized by those who daily witness 
the facilities of travel and its thousand attendant 
comforts and conveniences, in civilized commu- 
nities. 

During the long peace, he rendered other services 
which, we shall merely mention, were connected 
with a military visit to Europe, a command in the 
Cherokee country, and the disturbances on our 
northern frontier caused by the Canadian outbreak. 

Since the war was declared by congress to exist 
with Mexico, in May, 1846, General Wool has been 
occupied — 1st. In the organization of the western 
volunteers. 2d. In the concentration of a division 
at San Antonio de Bexar. 3d. In their march to 
Saltillo; and, 4th. In the battle of Buena Vista. 

Having fulfilled his instructions in organizing the 
volunteers, and despatched the required reinforce- 
ments to General Taylor, General Wool made pre- 
parations for his own march through the province 
of Coahuila. This march terminated at Saltillo, 
and is one of the most memorable of the war. As 
the general marched along, he was peacefully re- 
ceived by the inhabitants. His advance was more 



232 JOHN E. WOOL. 

like the passage of a distinguished ally than of an 
enemy. In short, he may be said to have made a 
mora] conquest of the wJiole province, by his hu- 
mane and discreet policy and singular aptitude for 
swaying the minds of men. Adversaries he con- 
verted into friends by a combination of firmness, 
kindness, and justice; and the reputation of his 
column spread a powerfully favorable influence into 
the adjacent provinces of Durango and Zacatecas. 
When resistance to his advance was threatened he 
was found ever ready to face it; he protected the 
persons and property of the inhabitants from any 
ill-usage on the part of his own men; he even res- 
cued some captives from the Indians who infest 
Northern Mexico; he saw that everything got hy 
his soldiers from the Mexicans was fairly paid for; 
in fine, he kept his division in such excellent subor- 
dination that not a single family was obliged to Hee 
at their approach, or had occasion to dread the 
outrages which so often — we had almost said in- 
variably — attend invasions, whether gratuitous or 
provoked. It is said, that in December, 1847, when 
suddenly called from Parras to relieve the threat- 
ened position of General Worth, his sick soldiers 
were received into the first families to be attended; 
and that the ladies of that city who had not forgot- 
ten the rescue of the captives, nor the sacred pro- 
tection which had been extended to themselves, 
begged it as a privilege to receive into their houses, 
and to watch over, the invalids, whose lives might 
have been jeoparded by the forced march that was 
necessary to reach Saltillo before the period desig- 
nated for Santa Anna's arrival ! 

General Wool's troops complained at first of the 
fatigues attending their long marches, and of the 
strict discipline which he enforced — and these 
complaints were no doubt all the louder that they 
were volunteers ; but they at length learned that 



JOHN E. AVOOL. 233 

this very familiarity with hardship, and this strict- 
ness of discipline, secured their safety and success. 

We now come to the great battle of Buena Vista, 
in which General Wool acted a most conspicuous 
part. It was he who chose our army's position, 
arranged our forces for the battle, and directly con- 
ducted their operations in the field. These duties 
he performed to the entire satisfaction of his com- 
manding general, the army and the country. In 
fact, General Wool had formed his opinion of the 
course which our army ought to pursue, independ- 
ently of any orders received from his superior; and 
General Taylor, whose views exactly coincided 
with his, felt such confidence in General Wool as 
to entrust him with what may be called the execu- 
tive command in the engagement. He was to be 
seen everywhere through the field animating, super- 
intending, directing. In the discharge of his duty, 
he exposed himself to every danger, and won the 
admiration of the troops by his valor, while he led 
them to victory by his example and his generalship. 
General Taylor, in his despatches, bears ample tes- 
timony to the services of his second in command. 
There never were on the field of battle two generals 
more united in opinion, feeling and action. All 
was harmony between them. And when, after the 
conflict, they rushed into each other's arms, on a 
field where more than three thousand men lay dead 
or wounded, mutual admiration, joy for the victory, 
and sorrow for the slain, mingled in one overpower- 
ing gush of sympathy. It was a picture on which 
the whole army, then in array for a third day's 
combat, looked with joyous surprise, and burst into 
cheerS' — three cheers, thrice repeated. 

We can not imagine anything more to the credit 
of both generals than the warm, unenvying testi- 
mony which each bears to the other's merits in 
their official accounts of the battle. Happy is the 
country where chiefs are thus united, in honor pre- 

30 



234 JOHN E. WOOL. 

ferring one another! That country has already- 
pronounced its highest encomium on the noble 
conduct of the two commanders ; nor, at the same 
time, does it forget that on a field where they were 
opposed by five to one, every officer and soldier who 
did his duty was a hero. 

The journals of the day have vied with each other 
in proclaiming his merits; and public bodies — 
among whom are the legislature of his native state, 
and the citizens of Troy — have passed resolutions, 
expressive of their admiration of his actions and 
their appreciation of his eminent talents. There 
may exist various opinions on our war with Mexico ; 
but in one respect it has been useful: it has assured 
the Americans, and shown to the world that when 
it is necessary for us to take the field, we have both 
men and leaders to maintain our cause. 

On Saturday, December 80, 1848, in pursuance 
of a resolution of the New York legislature, a very 
valuable sword, ornamented in the most costly 
manner, was presented to General Wool. The 
general desire to see and greet the second in com- 
mand at Buena Vista — the military display, and 
the value and beauty of the presentation weapon — 
all conspired to draw together at the Capitol a very 
large concourse of citizens and strangers. 

In the executive chamber were Governor Young, 
Adjutant-General Stevens, and the residue of the 
governor's military family, the state officers, Lieut. 
Gov. Fish, governor elect, several officers of the 
United States army, judges of the court of appeals, 
and many ladies. 

General Wool, accompanied by his staff, was 
escorted from Troy by the Citizens' Corps and the 
Artillery company, and others of that city, forming 
a large cavalcade. He was received with military 
honors at the Patroon's bridge, by Major-General 
Cooper and his staff, the Albany Republican Artil- 
lery, and the Washington German Rifle corps, who 



JOHN E. WOOL. 235 

forming an escort, led the way to the Capitol, to 
the music of several fine bands of this city and of 
Troy. 

General Wool was warmly cheered as he alighted 
at the Capitol, and was conducted to the executive 
chamber. The interchange of greetings there, was 
also warm and long-continued, and many that were 
without pressed forward to take him by the hand. 
Such was the pressure in the hall of the Capitol, 
where the ceremony was to have taken place, that 
a change was a matter of necessity, and the pre- 
sentation took place in the portico of the Capitol, 
the large concourse occupying the steps, the broad 
avenue, and the adjoining enclosures, nearly down 
to the central gate. 

Here, surrounded by the military and citizens, 
but not without the delay incident to so unexpected 
an assemblage, the ceremony took place. 

Our limits will not permit us to give the details. 
It will be sufficient to say that it will be long re- 
miembered as among the most interesting incidents 
connected with the successful termination of the 
war. 







^tM«^ 'i-C^j 







HENRY CLAY. 237 



HENRY CLAY. 

^OR nearly half a century, the name of this 
^Qjmf^^ eminent statesman has been a "familiar 
'1^'' word," and his history is already insepara- 
bly intertwined with that of the country. A 
condensed view however, of his career, compiled 
from authentic sources, can not but be interesting 
to the young, as when they learn how he mounted 
the ladder of distinction by his own exertions, de- 
pending solely upon his talent and industry, it may 
excite their emulation. 

Henry Clay was born in Hanover county, Vir- 
ginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. His father, who 
was a clergyman, died when this son was but a 
child, leaving no means by which he could receive 
the advantage of a classical education. When, but 
a boy, Henry Clay entered the office of Mr. Finley, 
then clerk of the high court of chancery at Rich- 
mond, where his embryo talents began to bud and 
expand. Naturally amiable in his disposition, he 
gained the friendship of those with whom he had 
intercourse, amongst whom were gentlemen of the 
highest rank and most extensive influence. At the 
age of nineteen he commenced the study of law, 
and so astonishing was his proficiency, that in one 
year after, he was admitted to practice. He soon 
proved to his friends, and to the courts in which he 
practised, that strength of intellect is not based up- 
on a collegiate diploma, and that talents sometimes 
shine without receiving an artificial polish from a 
classic master. American history is rich with such 
specimens. 

Soon after his admission, Mr. Clay removed to 
Lexington, Ky., where he pursued the study of law 
some time before he commenced practice. Natur- 
ally diffident, he attached himself to a debating so- 



238 HENRY CLAY. 

ciety, in order to become better prepared to enter 
upon his duties as an advocate. It is said his em- 
barrassment was so great when he first appeared 
before his colleagues in a debate, that he addressed 
the president, ^'gentlemen of the jury T In a few mo- 
ments, however, he became collected, and astonish- 
ed his delighted audience with a flow of eloquence, 
that at once placed him on the high road to distinc- 
tion. After remaining at Lexington a year, he took 
his place at the bar, and was soon favored with a 
lucrative practice. He grappled fearlessly with the 
most eminent lawyers, and soon stood at the head 
of his profession. He gained the respect of the 
courts and the affections of his qlients. Almost 
cotemporaneously with his maturity, his political 
career commenced. In 179S, he took a prominent 
part in the discussions relative to the formation of 
a constitution of his adopted state. His main ob- 
ject was to prevent slavery. In this he failed, al- 
though his speeches at public meetings on the oc- , 
casion, did much to raise him in public estimation, 
as a prominent and talented statesman. His sin- 
cerity and honesty of intention were conceded by 
all, and left his opponents free from that ill feeling 
that is too often engendered in the human breast in 
debate. 

In 1803, Mr. Clay was elected to the Kentucky 
legislature, where, although surrounded by the 
ablest men of the state, veteran legislators, he soon 
gained an unrivalled influence. 

In 1806, he was elected to the Unted States senate 
for one year to fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
resignation of Mr. Adair. During the session he be- 
came the advocate of the internal improvement 
system, to which he has adhered ever since. 

The ensuing year, he was again elected to the 
legislature of his own state, and was chosen speak- 
er by a very large majority. 

In 1809, the seat of Mr. Johnston, in the senate 



HENRY CLAY. 239 

of the United States, became vacant, four years of 
his term only having transpired. Mr. Clay was 
elected to serve in his place the two remaining 
years. An important crisis in the history of our 
country was at hand. War was raging in Europe, 
and our flag had been repeatedly insulted by the 
contending parties, under pretence of an improper 
interference, a course that had been most scrupu- 
lously guarded against by our nation. These de- 
predations upon our rights, on the part of England, 
gathered new strength with each returning year. 
Negotiation lost its dignity and force, pacific propo- 
sitions were met with contempt by the British court, 
and our minister was treated with contumely and 
disregard. It became evident, that we should be 
under the necessity of measuring swords with the 
mother country, before she would respect our rights. 
Mr. Clay was among the first to urge the necessity 
of preparing for war. Although anxious to avoid 
an open rupture, he was for maintaining the honor 
and dignity of our government, regardless of con- 
sequences. At the expiration of his term, in 1811, 
he was elected a member of the house of representa- 
tives in congress, of which body he was chosen 
speaker by a respectable majority. Under the high 
excitement that then existed, our country at the eve 
of a war with a nation that had long been mistress 
of the seas, members differing widely as to the 
policy to be pursued, it required much nerve, pru- 
dence, and wisdom, to discharge, satisfactorily and 
impartially, the duties that devolved upon him. 
His talents, however, proved equal to the task. He 
was a warm advocate for increasing the navy, justly 
considering it the right arm of our defence. 

When it became evident that nothing short of an 
appeal to arms would save our flag from continued 
insults, and when war was declared, he urged the 
necessity of prosecuting it with the utmost vigor. 

Mr. Clay was continued speaker of the house of 



240 HENRY CLAY. 

representatives until 1814, when he was appointed 
a commissioner, in conjunction with Messrs. Adams 
and Gallatin, to meet those of England, at Ghent, 
for the purpose of negotiating peace and a treaty of 
commerce. 

The mission of the commissioners was crowned 
with success; hostilities ceased; our rights were 
recognized, our nation elevated, our honor sustain- 
ed, and the valor of our navy and army placed on 
the highest pinnacle fame could rear. In the spring 
following these commissioners met at London, and 
completed the commercial treaty, which secured to 
our country many new and important advantages. 
Mr. Clay proved himself as skillful in the rules and 
intricacies of diplomacy, as those of the court of St. 
James, who had never properly appreciated the 
strength of American statesmen. In Messrs. Clay, 
Adams and Gallatin, England saw a trio of talent 
not surpassed by her noblest lords. 

On his return, Mr. Clay was again elected a mem- 
ber of the house of representatives in congress, and 
remained in that body until the accession of John 
Quincy Adams to the presidential chair in 1825, by 
whom he was appointed secretary of state, the du- 
ties of which ollice he performed with great ability 
to the end of the term, when he was elected to the 
United States senate. During his whole career, he 
has ever been a strong advocate of domestic manu- 
factures, internal improvements, and a protective 
tariff. He preferred raising a revenue from duties 
on imports, to liquidate our national debt, and meet 
the current expenses of the government, rather than 
to have recourse to direct taxation. 

In 18o2, during the discussion of the tariff Bill, 
when the doctrine of nullification was promulgated 
by several eminent statesmen of the south, and 
when the horrors of civil war were rolling into 
thick clouds, ready to burst with fury upon us, Mr. 
Clay, the father of the American system, appeared 



HENRY CLAY. 241 

« 

with the olive branch of compromise. After pour- 
traying" in glowing- colors, the necessity of preserv- 
ing unbroken the bonds of our Union, he presented 
a bill which proposed a general reduction of duties 
on imports, until they should reach the standard 
contended for by the south. In this plan he recog- 
nized the payment of the national debt, and the 
alternate reduction of the tarift^to a revenue stand- 
ard. The bill, like a magician's wand, the dark 
cloud vanished, and the sun of reconciliation rose 
in all its splendor. The bill known as the compro- 
mise act, passed both houses and was signed by the 
president, thus saving the country from the horrors 
of a civil war. 

He has uniformly taken a conspicuous part in 
every leading question that has been agitated in 
congress. His sympathies have always been alive 
for other nations, whom he saw struggling for lib- 
erty. 

He was the first who strongly advocated the re- 
cognition of the independence of South America. 
His success in effecting this, unquestionably pre- 
vented other nations from entering into an alliance 
with Spain against the southern patriots. The ser- 
vices of Mr. Clay were highly appreciated by them, 
and formally recognized by their congress. His 
name is interwoven in their history, as their advo- 
cate and benefactor. 

Suffering Greece also roused his tenderest sympa- 
thies. He urged, with all the powers of his unri- 
valled eloquence, the propriety of sending a commis- 
sioner to that classic land. He was strongly in 
favor of having the proceeds of the public lands 
appropriated to the advancement of internal im- 
provements and education. He favored the project 
of colonizing the negroes, for Avhose emancipation 
he has ever felt a lively interest. On the great 
national or Cumberland road, a beautiful monu- 
ment has been raised, inscribed Henry Clay. His 

31 



242 ^ HENRY CLAY. 

talents were duly appreciated by Presidents Madi- 
son and Monroe, the former of whom offered him 
the mission to Russia, and subsequently a place in 
his cabinet, both of which he declined. Mr. Mon- 
roe offered him the station of minister to the court 
of St. James, and a place in his cabinet, which he 
also declined. 

Having again served his country in the United 
States senate during the readjustment of the tariff, 
in 1844 Mr. Clay was nominated as president of the 
United States. He received the most enthusiastic 
support of the whig party; bat owing to causes 
which it is not now necessary to dwell upon, his 
competitor James K. Polk was elected by a com- 
paratively small majority. 

After the election of President Taylor, to the 
presidency, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, 
Mr. Clay was once more returned to the United 
States senate for the term of six years, commencing 
on the 4th of March, 1849. 

For native eloquence, Mr. Clay stands unrivalled 
in our country, if not in the world. For elegance 
and ease in action when speaking, I have never 
seen his equal. His figure is tall and erect, his 
voice clear, rich, and melodious; filling a greater 
space at the same pitch, than any other I ever 
heard. His countenance is animated and pleasing, 
and his manner always happily adapted to the sub- 
ject. His arguments are usually well arrayed, logi- 
cal, and to the point. Under excitement, he is 
sometimes personal, hurling at his antagonist the 
keen lancet of satire, but, like the flint, he emits a 
spark by collision, and then is cool again. He ap- 
pears never to retain any ill will against any person. 
In private conversation, he is interesting, agreeable, 
and always full of life and cheerfnlness. In his 
manners, he is affable, gentlemanly, and highly 
accomplished ; at the same time so plain and easy, 
that a farmer or mechanic, unaccustomed to com- 



HENRY CLAY. 243 

pany in high life, feels himself, in a few moments, 
perfectly free and relieved from all embarrassment 
in his presence. He is frank, affectionate, and warm 
hearted ; a faithful friend and a generous enemy. 

He possesses much of the milk of human kind- 
ness; his heart is always moved at the misfortunes 
of the human family, individually and collectively, 
and where he can he relieves their wants with a 
liberal hand. In his private and domestic relations, 
he is respected and esteemed, and sheds the rays 
of happiness, harmony, and peace, through every 
circle in which he moves. When he takes his final 
exit to " that country from whose bourne no travel- 
ler returns," taking him all in all, our country will 
probably never look on his like again. His merits 
have raised him in life, may glory enshrine him in 
death. 

On the 23d of February, 1847, Mr. Clay suffered 
a severe stroke in the loss of his son Colonel Clay, 
at the battle of Buena Vista. 

Colonel Clay was shot through the legs during 
the last charge made by the regiment to which he 
belonged. He fell, though not mortally wounded, 
in the bed of a ravine, and three of his men were 
bearing him from the field up the slope of the hill, 
when, being pressed by the enemy, the generous 
Clay begged them to leave him and save themselves, 
and at the same time handing to one of them his 
pistols, said: "Take these and return them to my 
father. Tell him I have no further use for them." 
The men seeing that all must be lost unless they 
quickened their pace, dropped their charge and fled. 
Colonel Clay was last seen lying on his back, fight- 
ing with his sword a squad of Mexicans. His body 
was found pierced with ten bayonet wounds. The 
faithful and patriotic volunteer subsequently deliv- 
ered into the hands of the revered and venerable 
father, these sacred tokens of the affection of his 
dutiful son. 



244 THOMAS H. BENTON. 

Alluding to this sad event, Mr. Clay, in a letter 
to a friend, said: 

" My life has been full of domestic afflictions, but 
this last is one of the severest among them. I de- 
rive some consolation from knowing that he died 
where he would have chosen, and where, if I must 
lose him, I should have preferred, on the battle field, 
in the service of his country. 



yfco^i\>u>tJtf 





OLONEL Benton is a native of Orange 
county. North Carolina. He was born 
in 1784. His ancestors Avere among the 
leaders of the revolution. The family 
of Hart, from which he is descended on 
the maternal side, was one of the most active 
in the state in furtherance of the settlement of 
Kentucky. The senatorial life of Mr. Benton 
dates from the year 1820, when he was elected 
by the legislature of Missouri, before the formal ad- 
mission of the state into the Union by congress. 
He had removed to Missouri about five years before, 
where he had inimediately risen to distinction at 
the bar. Perseverance, that attribute of all truly 
great and powerful minds, has through life been a 
remarkable trait of his character. 

In person, Mr. Benton is quite stout, his face ra- 
ther full, and of an oval shape. His head is large, 
and tapers towards the apex, pyramidally. He takes, 
seemingly, little interest in the course of the debates, 
and rarely mingles in them. It is certain, though, 
that not a moment escapes his notice, and he is pro- 
bably aware of the fact, that a renown so well es- 
tablished as his, is as likely to be injured as advanced 





^Y"^^^^^ 






^e^r-,^^^^^ /yj>i^ 



'^^^It. 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 245 

by his rising too frequently. His speeches, when 
made, show the marks of careful study, and like the 
earlier efforts of Demosthenes, smell of the lamp. 
Aside from the matter, Mr. Benton is not considered 
an agreeable speaker. He conmionly speaks in so 
low and subdued a tone, as to be entirely inaudible 
in the galleries. This is evidently a habit, for 
when he chooses to expand it, his voice is of great 
volume. He is very sparing of gesture. He usually 
rests the first two fingers of either hand upon his 
desk, and sways himself gently backwards and for- 
wards, as he speaks. 

Mr. Benton is now about sixty-five years of age, 
and nearly thirty years of his life has been spent in 
the senate. He is distinguished for the tenacity 
and capacity of his memory; and in knowledge of 
history, both ancient and modern, he may be styled 
the Macauley of America. He is fond of introducing 
historical and metaphorical illustrations into his 
speeches, and he manage's them generally with 
much effect. 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 

IJOGRAPHY has been appropriately defined 
to be " history teaching by example." Its 
most useful, and appropriate office is, to 
present the lives and characters of those 
distinguished individuals, who in the judgment 
of the wise and good, are most worthy of imi- 
tation. 

In the life of Buonaparte; his splendid achieve- 
ments, and brilliant victories; his gigantic plans 
and undertakings; and in his whole unrivalled 
career through the various stages of his progress 
from the office of the obscure corporal, to the French 




246 NORMAN H. ADAMS. 

throne itself, we find far more to dazzle and inflame 
the youthful imagination than in the arduous, 
humble, self denying labors of a Whitfield, while 
laboring to reform, elevate, and convert the world. 
And yet, were the inquiry addressed to every well- 
informed American parent, whether he would not 
prefer that his sons should imitate the example of 
the latter, it is believed that in a vast majority of 
cases, the response would be in the affirmative. 

It is to be regretted perhaps, that among the 
many sketches of great and useful men whom cir- 
cumstances have brought prominently forward to 
the public notice, or who have acquired fame by 
the performance of some rare and splendid acts, 
there should be so little known of others, occupying 
a more humble station in life, but possessing more 
intrinsic merit, who from native modesty, shrink 
from the public gaze. 

But nevertheless were their labors and their life 
brought out from the o})scurity in Avhicli they are 
enshrouded, they would be seen exerting an exten- 
sive though silent influence, like the meandering 
rivulet that winds its noiseless way through the 
lonely valley, fertilizing and enriching the territory 
through which it flows, while the mountain torrent 
may attract far more attention, yet oftentimes by 
its resistless course, may carry ruin and desolation 
in its path. 

The duties and occupations which necessarily fill 
up the time of a faithful minister of the church, are 
in their nature so uniform and simple, that his life 
is little likely to be marked by occurrences that 
would form materials for a narrative calculated to 
gratify public curiosity. And the greater his devo- 
tion to the duties of his calling, the less likely will 
he be to distinguish himself in the paths of fame. 

Norman H. Adams, the subject of our present 
sketch, was born on the 29th day of September, 
1799, in the village of Oak Hill, Greene county, 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 247 

New York. Oak Hill is an obscure but pleasant 
little villag-e, situated about twenty miles west from 
the Hudson river, and at a distance of some two 
miles from the base of the Catskill mountains. 
Were it not foreign from the design of this sketch, 
it would be an interesting theme, to exhibit the 
influence produced on characters, by the natural 
scenery amid which one's early years are passed. 
On the one hand, the majestic grandeur of the 
magnificent range of mountains that tower above 
the place of his nativity, may not have been with- 
out their influence, in creating the germ of those 
vast and sublime conceptions, and the grand and 
irresistible flashes of eloquence occasionally dis- 
played by Mr. Adams in the pulpit. On the other 
hand, who can tell that his unequalled social quali- 
ties; the kindness, mildness, affection, and love 
which have always marked his intercourse with his 
fellow men may not be traced to the influence of the 
beautiful landscape along the valley, and the gentle 
stream that winds and turns along the village ! 

Thomas Adams, the father of Norman H. Adams, 
was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and was 
the descendant of a family that came from England 
at an early period in the history of the country, and 
were among the earliest settlers of that state. Anna 
Adams, the mother of Norman, was the daughter 
of Aaron Thorp, of Woodbury, Connecticut. She 
was an amiable and exemplary woman, of more 
than ordinary strength of mind. Her early teaching 
and example have always exerted a controlling 
influence over the subsequent pursuits and conduct 
of her son, and are often acknowledged by him with 
affectionate and grateful emotions. He always 
entertained for her the greatest veneration. In 
early life he was remarkable for his devoted attach- 
ment to his mother, whose word was always law 
to him, and also for his refinement, sensibility, and 
amiable temper. 



248 NORMAN H. ADAMS. 

He was always passionately fond of flowers, 
pictures and ninsic. It was with the most exquisite 
pleasure that he listened to the first song of the 
birds in spring, and gazed upon the first opening 
flower. He frequently wandered a whole day in 
the woods in search of flowers, and has been known 
to surprise his father's family by producing a bou- 
quet before they were aware that a single one had 
appeared. 

In those days, among the humbler classes, a good 
book was a rare thing, and those that were within 
his reach were mostly works of poetry, which doubt- 
less had an influence on his mind, and gave a tint 
of romance to his character in after life. 

He was kept steadily at the district school, where 
he generally retained his station at the head of his 
class, until he reached the age of fourteen years. 
At this age he was supposed to have attained suffi- 
cient education to be apprenticed to some business, 
and being designed by his father for the mercantile, 
he took him into his own store as a clerk. 

In his father's store, and in other stores in the 
vicinity, he continued until he was eighteen years 
of age, when, never having had a taste for the busi- 
ness in which he was engaged, he resolved to ob- 
tain an education sufficient to enable him to study 
some profession. The way appeared dark and 
doubtful. Without friends to assist, and with little 
encouragement except from his excellent mother, 
he entered somewhat despondingly upon his arduous 
undertaking. 

He went to Greenville academy, and acquired 
sufficient knowledge to become an instructor, Avhen 
he engaged as a teacher in a district school through 
the winter, and thus continued teaching winters, 
and in summer attending school, or receiving pri- 
vate instruction, until he had obtained a good clas- 
sical education. 

About this time the death of a beloved sister near 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 249 

his own age, seemed to change the whole complex- 
ion of his life. It was the first real sorrow that ever 
found its way to his young heart, and threw a dark 
cloud over a horizon that until then had been clear 
and bright, and cast a pall of sadness over tlie sunny 
and hopeful future. At this period his attention 
was turned to the ministry, and after mature de- 
liberation, he resolved that he would thenceforth 
devote his life to the good of his fellow creatures. 

He accordingly made known his intention to the 
Rev. James Thompson, who officiated at Oak Hill, 
from whom he received holy baptism, and through 
whose assistance he was put in possession of the 
required testimonials. He was then admitted a 
candidate for holy orders in the protestant episcopal 
church in the diocese of New York, by the Rt. Rev. 
John Croes, bishop of New Jersey, in the absence 
of Bishop Hobart of New York, and commenced the 
study of theology under the supervision of the Rev. 
Samuel Fuller of Rensselaerville, the Rev. Mr. 
Prentiss of Catskill, and the Rev. James Thompson 
of Durham. 

The church into whose bosom he had been re- 
ceived, being very strict in her requirements, the 
undertaking upon which he had entered appeared 
to young Adams very difficult. But endeavoring 
to put his trust in divine providence, he was sus- 
tained under all difficulties, and received great en- 
couragement and aid from the Rev. James Thomp- 
son and family. 

Having passed the periods of his diffi?rent exami- 
nations with credit and honor, he received the re- 
quired testimonials, and was ordained deacon in 
Christ's church, New York, by the Rt. Rev. John 
H. Hobart, bishop of the protestant episcopal church 
in the diocese of New York. In the afternoon of 
the same day, he preached in the same church his 
first sermon, which has been described to the writer 
by one who was present, as a masterly effort. 

32 



250 NORMAN H. ADAMS. 

At the solicitation of an early and intimate friend, 
A. B.Watson, then engaged in business at Unadilla, 
Mr. Adams was invited by the vestry of St. Mat- 
thew's church to make them a visit. 

He accordingly left his native village in a few 
days after he received orders, preached at Unadilla 
the following Sunday, and the same week received 
a unanimous call from the vestry to become the 
minister of their parish, to fill the vacancy occa- 
sioned by the resignation of the Rev. Marcus A. 
Perry. He accepted the call, and was soon appoint- 
ed missionary at Unadilla, Bainbridge, and parts 
adjacent, and was ordained priest in St. Matthew's 
church, Unadilla, by the Rt. Rev. John H. Hobart, 
on the 27th day of September, 1828. 

Mr. Adams could not possibly have been placed 
in a situation more congenial to his taste and feel- 
ings. 

Unadilla is one of the most beautiful villages in 
the world, situated in the bosom of a lovely and ver- 
dant valley, with the renowned Susquehannah roll- 
ing its pure and sparkling water at its feet; dwel- 
lings built with taste, and grounds ornamented with 
trees and flowers. It is a place peculiarly calcula- 
ted to inspire one with a love for the sublime and 
beautiful in nature, and to open the heart to the 
pure and exalted feelings of devotion and praise to 
the holy and benificent Being, from whose inex- 
haustible bounty proceeds every blessing that glad- 
dens the heart of man. The parishioners of Mr. 
Adams, are refined, intelligent, kind hearted and 
affectionate ; and in return, it is not strange that he 
should entertain for them the strongest affection 
and regard, and devote himself to their spiritual 
welfare. 

The writer has been credibly informed, that dur- 
ing the twenty-three years he has been their pastor, 
Mr. Adams has never given to, or received from, one 
of his people the first unkind word. This fact, con- 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 251 

nected with the long- period he has been among them, 
speaks vohimes in favor of both minister and people. 

When Mr. Adams first went to Unadilla, the con- 
gregations at UnadiUa and Bainbridge were small. 
There were but two churches within thirty miles 
around, where there are now fourteen. It can not 
be doubted that the labors of Mr. Adams in the ex- 
tensive missionary field assigned to him, were seed 
sown that have sprung up in many places and borne 
fruit. He labored in the parish at Bainbridge eight 
or nine years, until he deemed them sufficiently 
strong to sustain a clergyman for the whole time, 
when he yielded to the wishes of his parish at Una- 
dilla that he should allow them his constant ser- 
vices. It was not, however, without the deepest 
regret that he left his parish at Bainbridge, the 
scene of his early labors, endeared to him by the 
most tender recollections, and containing many 
warm friends bound to him by the strongest ties of 
love and esteem. 

On the 28th of September, 1831, he was married 
to Caroline Frisbee, daughter of the late Dr. Frisbee 
of Rensselaerville, Albany county, an eminent phy- 
sician, and a man of sterling integrity and piety. 
Mrs. Adams is a lady of education and refinement, 
and by her piety, discretion, and dignified deport- 
ment, has contributed essentially to her husband's 
popularity and usefulness. 

Between Mr. Adams and his congregation exists 
the warmest attachment and confidence. He has 
had frequent opportunities to exchange his situation 
for others, in which his sphere of usefulness might 
have been enlarged, and more prominence given to 
his name and character. But he was never ambi- 
tious of flime. Pleasures resulting from celebrity, 
never held a high place in his estimation; and he 
preferred from principle rather to remain where he 
was needed and was useful, than to sever the ties 
which bind together the hearts of a minister and 



252 NORMAN H. ADAMS. 

his flock; ties that had been streno^thened by a 
long' interchange of sympathies and kind feelings. 
In reference to the place of his present residence, 
Mr. Adams can well adopt the language of good 
Mr. Hilton, in "Now and Then." " Here pitched I 
my tent long ago, and here will T remain, and take 
iny rest with those I love, whom one by one I have 
followed to the grave. Here sweetly sleep they, 
and by and by I hope to slumber beside them till 
"we rise together again from the dust." 

Without laboring to acquire popularity, yelt Mr. 
Adams enjoys to a wonderful extent, the confidence 
and affections of all classes of his acquaintance. 
Perhaps no more satisfactory solution of this can be 
furnished than was given by himself 

On being once asked how he so managed as to 
retain his youthful feelings so long, and how it hap- 
pened he was so great a favorite among the young 
people of his parish, he replied he could give no 
answer unless it was that he desired to act up to 
the divine precept, "weep with them that weep, 
and rejoice with them that rejoice." 

Mr. Adams had resided at Unadilla sixteen or seven- 
teen years before any other than an Episcopal church 
was erected there, which gave an extension to his pa- 
rish labors, unequalled perhapsby any country parish 
in the state. He has been frequently called twenty, 
thirty, and even forty miles to attend funerals; and 
many persons who in health, seemed to have no 
regard for the church, on their death beds have re- 
quested that he would ofliciate at their burial. 

The great mass of community do not properly 
appreciate the labors of a zealous and faithful cler- 
gyman. An apostolic minister may be applauded 
for his open ministrations upon the Lord's day, and 
he may be seen endeavoring to fulfil every public 
duty, comforting the afflicted, preparing the sick 
and dying for another world, instructing the lambs 
of his flock, burying the dead, &c.; but he is not 



NORMAN H. ADAMS. 253 

seen in his private moments, the hours spent in pre- 
paration for his Sunday labors ; his sleepless nights, 
and his anxiety for the temporal and spiritual welfare 
of those committed to his charge. 

We may say without flattery, that^ as an orator 
and a writer, Mr. Adams stands in the front ranks 
of his profession. As a reader it is sufficient praise 
for any man to say, that in his hands, ample justice 
is always rendered to the beautiful, impressive, and 
inimitable ritual of the church. He has been fre- 
quently requested to permit the publication of some 
of his efforts, but has generally declined. While 
his aim seems to be to produce practical sermons, 
yet his exuberant and fertile fancy is constantly 
exhibited in the rich and appropriate imagery that 
adorns his discourses. It hns been remarked of him 
as of" another celebrated divine, that his sermons 
have a peculiar adaptation to circumstances. He 
never fails to enlist and retain the undivided inter- 
est and attention of his hearers. Were we to ven- 
ture an opinion, it would be that his great forte lies 
in persuasion, and appeals to the more refined and 
finer sensibilities of the heart. 

Mr. Adams is emphatically a self made man. 
Being the eldest of six children dependant upon his 
father for support, he did not wish to burden him 
with any expense for his education, and received 
from his father's aid nothing more than an ordinary 
education; nor has he ever received from any indi- 
vidual, as it is confidently believed, one dollar to 
assist in procuring his education, or in placing him 
where he now is. 

What little time he has had for relaxation has 
been principally spent in indulging his taste for 
music and painting, looking over his farm, planting 
trees, and cultivating flowers. The piano is his 
favorite instrument. He plays and sings with con- 
siderable taste. 

He is a sound churchman in principle and de- 



254 SANFORD HUNT, SEN. 

voted to his mother the church. While he hopes 
to Uve and die in her arms, he endeavors to exercise 
that charity that "believeth all things" well of those 
who differ from him in opinion. He may most 
appropriately say, 

• 

" I love the cluirch — tlie holy cliurch 

That o'er our life presides, 
The birth, the burial, and the grave, 

And many an hour besides. 

" Be mine thro' life to live in her, 

And when the Lord sliall call 
To die in her — the spouse of Christ, 

The mother of us all." 




SANFORD HUNT, SEN'R. 

HE Pilgrim spirit has not fled. It still sur- 
vives. It animates the children. It will 
live through generations yet to come. It 
the genius which presides over the des- 
tinies of the land. One of the livino: de- 
scendants of the fathers thus writes : " No other 
form of religion was known, in the land of the pil- 
grims, until the great principles of the American 
system were developed and established here by our 
forefathers. The truth is, they lived for no ordinary 
purpose. They were the most remarkable men 
which the world ever produced. They lived for a 
nobler end, for a higher destiny than any that have 
ever lived. These are the men to whom New Ens:- 

• • • 1 

land owes her religion, with all the blessings, social, 
civil and literary, that follow in its train. These 
are the men whose blood still flows in our veins 
and into whose inheritance we have entered. Peace 
to their silent shades! Fragrant as the breath of 
morning be their memory ! The winds of two cen- 
turies have swept over their graves ! 



SANFORD HUNT, SEN. 255 

" The effacing hand of time has well nigh worn 
away the perishable monuments which may have 
marked the spot where sleeps their honored dust. 
But they still live. They live in the immortal prin- 
ciples which they taught — in the enduring institu- 
tions which they established. They live in the re- 
membrance of a grateful posterity; and they will 
live on through all time, in the gratitude of unborn 
generations, who, in long succession, shall rise up 
and call them blessed." 

Sanford Hunt, the father of Washington Hunt, 
the present comptroller of the state of New York, is 
of an old and respectable New England stock. His 
grandfather, Simeon Hunt, was born in Lebanon, 
Connecticut, about the year 1720. Simeon had 
several brothers, one of whom. Dr. Ebenezer Hunt, 
settled in Northampton, Massachusetts. Another 
brother settled near Sharon, Connecticut. The lat- 
ter married Hannah Lyman, of Lebanon, Connecti- 
cut, and afterward removed to Coventry, in the 
same state, where he died in 1793, about twenty 
years after the death of his first wife. 

The father of the subject of this memoir was Gad 
Hunt. He was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 
1749. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel 
Woodward, of Coventry,* Connecticut. Gad Hunt 
died in 1806, aged 57, and his wife in 1829, aged 
83. 

Sanford Hunt was born at Coventry, Connecticut, 
on the 17th April, 1777. At the age of sixteen he 
became a clerk in a store, in which capacity he 
served until he was twenty-one. 

In June, 1798, he commenced business in part- 
nership with an uncle, at Batavia, near Windham, 
Green county. New York. 

* Nathaniel Woodward was a native of Roxbury, Massachusetts. His 
wife was Elizabeth Aborn, born near Boston. They lived to an ad- 
vanced age. Nathaniel died in 1792. 



r 



256 SANFORD HUNT, SEN. 

In December, 1799, he was united in marriage 
with Fanny Rose, of Coventry, Connecticut, the 
daughter of Dr. Samuel Rose. She was born Janu- 
ary 4, 1779. Her mother, Elizabeth, was sister of 
the patriot, Nathan Hale, who after the most cruel 
treatment was executed as a spy on Long Island, 
rejTrettins: that he had but one life to lose for his 
country. The father of Fanny, was a surgeon in 
the army during the revolutionary war. He returned 
home sick and died a few days afterward in the 
winter of 1780-1. 

Mr. Hnnt resided at Windham for about twenty 
years, during the greater portion of which period, his 
business was prosperous. But sudden and unexpect- 
ed reverses, among which was a heavy loss by fire, 
considerably reduced his property. In 1818, he 
closed his business, and on the following year, with a 
considerable stock of merchandise, he removed with 
his family to his present residence (Hunt's Hollow), 
where by the most indomitable perseverance, he has 
succeeded beyond his expectations. 

The life of Sanford Hunt furnishes no stirring in- 
cidents, but there is one thing which he did which 
reflects lasting honor upon him ; he gave his child- 
ren a sound practical education! A¥ith what truth 
has it been said, that "he who provides for the 
wants and comforts of himself and family, and ren- 
ders some comfort to society at large by his mental 
and physical industry, performs one of the high 
duties of life; and will ultimately be rewarded in 
the conscious rectitude of his life, by a greater 
measure of substantial happiness, than he who 
makes millions by fraud and speculation, to be 
squandered in extravagance, or wasted in folly, by 
his children or grandchildren. The revolutions 
which are constantly taking place in fimilies, suffi- 
ciently admonish us, that it is not the wealth we 
leave to our children, but the industrious moral 
habits in which we educate them, that secures them 



SANFORD HUNT, SEN. 257 



worldly prosperity, and the treasure of an approving 
conscience. 

Who can better employ his time, his talents, and 
attention, than fitting his sons to be ornaments of 
society, and to be a crown of glory to his hoary 
hairs ! Rarely can a man serve his country so well 
in any other way, as by presenting to it a family of 
sons and daughters, well trained and disciplined, 
and amply qualified to act a useful and honorable 
part in the various stations which they may be 
called to fill. 

In 1846 Mr. Hunt was called to suffer a heavy 
affliction, in the loss of an affectionate wife. Two 
days after an attack of apoplexy, she died suddenly 
on the 6th of February. She was a woman greatly 
beloved. 

Having passed the measure of days of threescore 
years and ten, the venerable subject of this sketch 
may not be far removed from the confines of the 
spirit-land. In a few years the fallen leaves may 
rustle above his last resting place. May he be ena- 
bled by a holy faith to look forward to an immortal 
spring time, to a season of reviving hope and undy- 
ing beauty amidst the paradise of God. 

Mr. Hunt has had ten children, namely, Samuel 
Rose, born Sept. 22, 1800; John Hale, born March 
17, 1804; Ehzabeth, born April 16, 1806; Mary, 
born Oct. 6, 1809, died Oct. 28, 1835; Washington, 
born Aug. 5, 1811; Horace, born Oct. 7, 1813; 
Medad, born Aug. 13, 1815, died Feb. 24, 1817; 
Fanny Rose, born Sept. 5, 1817 ; Sanford, born May 
22, 1820, died Jan. 4, 1849; Edward Bissell, born 
June 15, 1822. The latter is in the corps of United 
States engineers, at West Point. 



33 



258 WASHINGTON HUNT. 




WASHINGTON HUNT. 

'T has been truly said that biography per- 
forms one of its highest offices, when it por- 
trays the contrqlling influences which gil'ted 
individuals have exerted on the prosperity of 
their country, and this office is ever the most 
grateful and acceptable to the friends of man- 
kind, when it traces character through a series of 
early, consistent, self-dependent, developments. 
There is a charm in contemplating the efforts of a 
self-made man, rising from scenes of comparative 
obscurity, to those of high distinction and eminence, 
continually sustaining himself at every new point, 
and finally concentrating the approbation of his 
countrymen, which even the most arbitrary govern- 
ments have found it impossible to resist, but which 
come with double attractions to those of a free re- 
presentative character. 

The river rolling onward its accumulated waters 
to the ocean, was in its small beginning but an 
oozing rill, trickling down some moss-covered rock, 
and winding like a silver thread between the green 
banks to which it imparted verdure. The tree that 
sweeps the air with its hundred branches, and mocks 
at the bowlings of the tempest, was in its small 
beginning but a little seed trodden under foot, un- 
noticed ; then a small shoot that the leaping hare 
might have forever crushed. 

Every thing around us tells us not to despise 
small beginnings; for they are the lower rounds of 
a ladder that reaches to great results, and wc must 
step upon these before we can ascend higher. 

This sketch is written under the impression that 
the life and character of the individual named, af- 
ford a happy and practical illustration of the senti- 



WASHINGTON HUNT. 259 

ment. It holds out to young men of intellect and 
decision, a bright example to cheer them forward 
in the path of honorable exertion; while they dis- 
play tlie genius of American institutions in the op- 
portunities and facilities which they present to fos- 
ter and reward talent, exertion and enterprise. 

Washington Hunt is the third son of Sanford 
Hunt. He was born at Windham, Greene county, 
New York, on the 5th of August, 1811. This is a 
mountainous region, and furnishes views of sur- 
passing beauty; and it is a remarkable fact, that 
nearly all of those who have been prominent actors 
on the stage of life, passed their earlier years amidst 
mountain scenery. 

Boys accustomed in early life to climb over rocks, 
and wade torrents, are the fittest to meet the frowns 
and storms of the world in manhood. The dweller 
on the Alpine heights, looks with contempt upon 
dangers which would discourage the gay French- 
man. So the Scottish Highlander has no rival at a 
charge in the British army. And the Jews of old, 
bred among the hills of Palestine, had qualities for 
war and enterprise which placed them among the 
bravest of soldiers, and the most successful of mer- 
chants. 

No man loves his country with the enthusiasm 
of the mountaineer. Its very ruggedness makes 
him feel a warmer attachment. Stern and wild, it 
makes his heart tender. Those hardy native flow- 
ers of affection, continue to blossom when fairer 
and more splendid plants, nursed beneath warmer 
skies, wither beneath the breath of the stranger. 

In 1818, the subject of this memoir removed with 
his father to Hunt's Hollow, Livingston county. 
Having studied law, in 1829, he was admitted to 
the bar at Lockport, N. Y., where he still resides. 
In that year he was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary H. Walbridge, daughter of Henry Walbridge, 
Esq. 



260 WASHINGTON HUNT. 

Having from an early period taken an active in- 
terest in political affairs, in 1836 he was nominated 
for congress, and lacked but a few votes of being 
elected. Tiie same year he was appointed first 
judge of Niagara county, the duties of which im- 
portant station he discharged with a fidelity and 
ability which elicited general approbation. At the 
termination of the constitutional term of five years, 
having declined the offer of a reappointment, he 
retired in 1841. 

On this occasion of a meeting of the bar of Nia- 
gara county was called, and the following resolu- 
tion unanimously adopted. 

Resolved, That the Hon. Washington Hunt, in 
retiring from the office of first judge of the county 
of Niagara, will carry with him the kind and grateful 
recollections of the members of the bar of this 
county, not only as a judge possessing a clear and 
comprehensive mind, combined with a firm, inde- 
pendent and dignified deportment, but as a man 
and a private citizen. 

In 1842, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, 
Mr. Hunt again became a candidate for congress. 
Having received an unanimous nomination by the 
whig district convention, he was elected by a fiiir 
majority. And it is a fact worthy of record, that 
owing to his personal popularity, many of the oppo- 
site party gave him their votes. From that time to 
the present, without any solicitation on his part, he 
has, by large majorities, been regularly reelected 
to the same office. 

In January, 1849, Mr. Fillmore, the present vice- 
president of the United States, having notified the 
legislature of his intended resignation of the office 
of comptroller on the 20 of February ensuing, it be- 
came necessary to fix upon a successor. The lead- 
ino- whig papers in all parts of the state forthwith 
urged the choice of Mr. Hunt. The following ex- 
tract from the Herkimer Journal is a specimen of 



WASHINGTON HUNT. 261 

the nnmerons articles which appeared in com- 
mendation of him. 

For the purpose of givin<^ voice to the nearly unanimous wish of the 
whigs of this section of the state, we present tiie name of Washington 
Hunt, as a candidate for tlie office of con)ptrolier of the state of New 
York. The qualifications of Mr. Hunt are ani|)le. He is a man of tried 
integrity, of great financial experience, of extensive and varied acquire- 
ments, of graceful address and gentlemanly bearing. Din-ing the many 
years he has been engaged in ])ublic affairs, he has evinced not only 
great powers of mind, but many excellencies of heart; and in every po- 
sition in which he has been placed by the partiality of an enlightened 
constituency, he has discharged the duties imposed upon him to the en- 
tire satisfaction of the public and with great honor to himself. 

At a meetingof the whig members of the legisla- 
ture in caucus, for the purpose of agreeing upon a 
candidate for comptroller, the nomination of Mr. 
Hunt was moved by Mr. Fuller of the senate, who 
paid a just tribute to his qualifications. 

Senator Cole followed, and in the course of some 
eloquent remarks, said: 

"After the eloquent eulogium that has just been 
pronounced on Mr. Hunt, it looks like presump- 
tion in one as humble as myself to rise to ad- 
dress you. But 1 can speak of Mr. Hunt from a 
long and intimate acquaintance. He is my repre- 
sentative in congress. I have the honor of being 
his in this senate. This is my apology for trespass- 
ing upon your patience. He is a gentleman whose 
marked, yea, preeminent, ability, tried integrity, un- 
wearied industry, patient research, sound and dis- 
criminating judgment, quickness of apprehension 
and clearness of conception, and great financial 
experience — whose endearing amiability of charac- 
ter, kindness of heart, and gentle courtesy and 
cordial familiarity of manner, declare him not only 
able to discharge the duties of the most important 
office in the state, (that of comptroller,) but also to 
be possessed of qualifications for it, as rare as they 
are desirable. 

Sir, six years since he entered congress, unknown 
to fame. In that brief period, (four of which was 
passed in a hopeless minority) he has, by his untiring 



262 WASHINGTON HUNT. 

industry and commandinoc talents, raised himself to 
the proud eminence of being the first in ability and 
influence of the distinguished delegation from this, 
the Empire State, and to an equality with any mem- 
ber of the house of representatives in congress. A 
little over one year ago he was made chairman of 
the important standing committee on commerce, 
and in the short time which has transpired, such is 
the distinguished ability with which he has dis- 
charged the high duties of his committee, that he has 
acquired a most enviable reputation as a statesman. 
His elaborate, well-digested and able reports on 
commerce and navigation, and on the improvement 
of rivers and harbors, prove him to be patient in 
research, sound in judgment, accurate in deduc- 
tion — a sound constitutional lawyer, and a wise 
statesman. He is still comparatively a young man ; 
he is yet on the sunny side of the meridian of life. 
Bright as has been his course so far, a more brilliant 
one awaits him ; higher honors, a more wide-spread 
and enduring reputation. In the western portion 
of this state, where he is best known, there are but 
two of our many eminent statesmen who surpass 
him in public estimation. Need I say they are 
Millard Fillmore and Wm. H. Seward ? There is 
that in the histories of these three distinguished 
gentlemen, which has caused me, who have had 
the happiness to know them from their youth or 
early manhood, to mark with deep and abiding in- 
terest their proud progress up the hill of fame. 

Mr. Hunt is a self made man. In early life, feel- 
ing the working of a mighty spirit within him, he 
struggled hard with the ills of fortune. Now, be- 
fore he has arrived at the meridian of life, he has 
not only acquired without one act of wrong, with- 
out one tear, or one cry of distress from the oppress- 
ed, without one blur on his fair fame, an ample for- 
tune, but also a reputation as a statesman, of which 
any one might be proud." 



WASHINGTON HUNT. 263 

After further remarks, a resolution declaring Mr. 
Hunt unanimously nominated, was adopted with 
enthusiastic applause from the caucus and galleries. 

On the 15th of February, on the meeting of the 
two branches of the legislature in joint convention, 
Mr. Hunt was appointed to the office of comptroller 
by a vote of eighty-nine to seven. 

It is worthy of note that on this occasion, many 
of the papers opposed to Mr. Hunt in politics, among 
which was the Albany Argus, congratulated the 
whigs upon their choice. 

We can not close this brief sketch without call- 
ing attention to the paramount importance of one 
qualification which ought to shine conspicuously in 
every officer of the government, and that is moral 
character. There is nothing which adds so much 
to the beauty and power of man, as a good moral 
character. It is his wealth — his influence — his life. 
It dignifies him in every station — exalts him in 
every condition, and glorifies him at every period 
of life. Such a character is more to be desired than 
everything else on earth. It makes a man free and 
independent. No servile tool^ — no crouching syco- 
phant — no treacherous honor-seeker ever bore such 
a character. The pure joys of truth and righteous- 
ness never spring in such a person. If young men 
but knew how much a good character would dignify 
and exalt them — how glorious it would make their 
prospects, even in this life ; never should we find 
them yielding to the groveling and base-born pur- 
poses of human nature. ^ 

Without this, the subject of our sketch could 
never have attained the enviable rank he now 
occupies. He is a liberal patron of literature and 
the arts, and his sympathies are ever on the side of 
the weak and the distressed. 

How softly on the bruised heart 

A word of kindness falls, 
And to the dry and parched soul 

The inoist'uing tear-drop calls ; 



264 SANFORD HUNT, JR. 

O, if they knew, who Avalk the Earth 

'Mid sorrow, grief ajul pain, 
The power a word of kindness hath, 
^ 'Twere paradise again. 

As stars upon the tranquil sea 

In mimic glory sliine, 
So words of kindness in the heart 

Reflect their source divine; 
O, then, be kind, who'er thou art 

Tliat hreathest mortal breath. 
And it shall brighten all thy life, 

And sweeten even death. 

For a detailed history of the congressional career of Mr. Hunt, the 
reader is referred to that invaluable work, Wheeler's History of Congress. 



<<«»■> 



SANFORD HUNT, JR. 

There is another gathering. 

But one is wanting there ; 
The youth who sat beside his sire 

Comes not to fill his chair. 
The grave-yard bears another stone — 

The miss'd one sleeps beneath — 
The cheerful smile dotii yet pass round, 

But thou art felt, oh death ! 

rLEAR is the bubblint? spring, but it flows 
gently, and it is the little rivulet which runs 
along, day and night, by the farm house, 
that is useful, rather than the swollen flood, 
or the warring cataract. Niagara excites our 
wonder, and we stand amazed at the power 
and greatness of God there, as he "pours it from his 
hollow hand." But one Niagara is enough for the 
continent, or the world, while the same world re- 
quires thousands and tens of thousands of silver 
fountains and gentle flowing rivulets, that water 
every farm and meadow, and every garden, and 
that shall flow on every day, and every night, with 
their gentle, quiet beauty. So with the acts of our 
lives ; it is not by great deeds only, but by the daily 
and quiet virtues of life, that good is to be done. 




SANFORD HUNT, JR. 265 

The name of Sanford Hunt, Jr., has not, we 
believe, ever been before the world as a political 
character; but as the most fragrant flowers are fre- 
quently found in the shady glen, so there are some 
men whose lives glide silently away, unnoticed but 
by a quiet circle in which their excellence of cha- 
racter is truly appreciated. 

The subject of this sketch was the sixth son of 
Sanford Hunt, Sen., and was born at Portage, Liv- 
ingston county. New York, on the 22d of May, 1820. 
Some years ago, he removed to Mount Morris, where 
he was engaged in an extensive mercantile concern. 

On the 1st of January, 1847, he was united in 
marriage with Miss Marilla Currier. 

On the 4th of January, 1849, while on a visit to 
his sister at Roxbury, Massachusetts, he departed 
this life for that "better land" where there is no 
more death, and 

Where every severed wreath is bound ; 

And none have heard the knell 
That smites the soul in that wild sound — 

Farewell, — beloved, Farewell. 

" In the death of Mr. Hunt," says the Mt. Morris 
Union, "our village has sustained a serious loss — 
he possessed an active and persevering spirit, and 
in all his business transactions, the most particular 
and scrupulous correctness was observable — gifted 
with a more than usual degree of business talent, 
every thing he undertook was carried forward to 
a successful completion; and although a resident 
of our village but a few years, he had by the purity 
of his life, the amenity of his disposition and man- 
ners, and the upright, faithful, and intelligent dis- 
charge of all the duties of a good citizen, acquired 
in an eminent degree the esteem and confidence of 
the community." 



34 



266 CHARLES S. STEWART. 




CHARLES SEAFORTH STEWART. 

HARLES S. Stewart is a native of New 
Jersey. His father, Samuel Robert 
Stewart, was a counsellor at law of the 
bar of that state, distinguished for pro- 
fessional ability and acumen, for ready 
wit, and success as an advocate. The grand- 
father of the subject of our sketch, was Colonel 
Charles Stewart, a gallant Jerseyman, whose 
distinguished services are honorably commem- 
orated in the annals of that state. 

European ancestry is of little importance to those 
who inherit the birthright of American citizenship; 
but the subjoined extract from an article in a public 
journal, referring to a relative of Col. Stewart, and 
rehearsing the immediate ancestors of both, shows 
that the family are descended from one of the oldest 
branches of the Scottish house of Stewart.* 

The Rev. C. S. Stewart was educated at Nassau 
hall, Princeton, and we believe that the first appear- 
ance of his name in print, was at its commencement 
as a graduate in connexion with the higher honors 
of his class. For a time he directed his attention 
to the bar as a profession, and completed a course 
of study at the law school of Litclifield, Connecticut, 
so celebrated under the supervision of its founders, 
Judges Reeves and Gould. He subsequently en- 
tered the theological seminary at Princeton, and was 
there ordained for the ministry, as an evangelist 
and missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1822. 
The missionary enterprise was at that time, a 

*Ilis fiitlior was Robert Stewart, ot" the demesne of Gortlee, Donegal 
county, Ireland, and liis grandfather Charles Stewart, a Scotelinian, of 
the family of Garlies, an oflicer of dragoons in the army of William III. 
He belonged to the regiment of Col. Sir Christopher Wray, Bart., and 
for gallantry at the battle of the Boyne, received an estate in the north 
of Ireland still in the possession of a descendant. — A*eu> Yoi'k Express. 



CHARLES S. STEWART. 267 

comparatively new thing; and but little general 
interest in the public mind had as yet been excited 
by it, especially among the more cultivated, wealthy 
and more polished circles of society. It was in 
those circles that his associations had chiefly been; 
and his determination to become a missionary, ex- 
cited a lively and wide-spread interest in the cause, 
and accounted for the character of some of the 
notices in the public prints of the embarkation of 
the company of missionaries to which Mr. Stewart 
and his lady were attached. 

The following extract from an introduction by 
the English editor, accompanying the first London 
edition of Mr. Stewart's Residence at the Sandwich 
Islands, will show the estimation in which he was 
held. 

" Tlie writer of tlie followinjEr book, is one, whom the most disinterested 
benevolence, led to the Sandwich Islands, lor the purpose of attempting 
to communicate to the unenlightened minds of the inhabitants, the prin- 
ciples of human knowledge and ins[)ired truth. Though connected with 
families of the first respectability in America, and favored with the fairest 
prospects of realizing all he could desn-e in his profession at home, he 
relinquished them, and 

Denied to self, to earthly fame 

Denied, and earthly weallli — he kindred left 

And home, and ease, and all the cultivated joys, 

Convenient and delicate delights, 

Of ripe society." 

A journal of the day, in describing the embarka- 
tion of the missionaries at New Haven, on the 19th 
of November, 1822, thus writes: 

" The scene was one of the most solejnn and interesting we have ever 
witnessed. It was a most triumphant display of the power and worth of 
Christianity; and the cause of missions will be immeasurably strength- 
ened by this instance of i)iety and almost unexampled devotion. The 
breathless silence that prevailed during the religious exercises, and the 
murmurs of sympathy that pervaded the assembly, while the missionaries 
were taking leave of their friends, made an impression that can not be 
effaced. We were irresistibly reminded by it of the following passage 
in the Acts: "And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and 
prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, 
and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, 
that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to 
the ship." 

"With this mission family, individuals of refined taste and finished 
education, of elegant and polished manners, and great personal worth, 



268 CHARLES S. STEWART. 

have bidden adieu for ever to all that is dear to them on earth, and gone 
without the expectation of return, to the hcnifflitod islands of the Pacific. 
The prayers and pious aspirations of their friends, and of the Christian 
world, follow them, and we trust ever will follow and support tliem, 

"The sacrifices which those make who leave their native shores for 
missionary purposes, are of no conunon chanicier. Christians do not 
sufficiently realize this. In the description which voyapcrs give of the 
Sandwich Islands, we arc told of the salidirity of the climate, the excel- 
lency of the fruits, and the simplicity of the inhabitants. But could we 
view those places, and view them, ignorant, debased and guilty, as they 
are; could we see the great obstacles to be surmounted before they can 
be raised to the comforts of civilization and the blessings of Christianity, 
we should be able to make a better estimate of the sacrifices and trials 
of the missionary." 

The missionary life of Mr. Stewart, and the causes 
constraining him to return to the United States, are 
fully known through his published account of his 
Residence in the Sandwich Islands, which has gone 
through many editions in this country and abroad. 

For more than two years after his return to the 
United States, he traveled and preached extensively 
over the northern and middle states, in advocacy of 
the cause of missions ; not without reason, then and 
still do believe, with very great acceptance to the 
public, and happy and permanent results, in a fresh 
impulse to the cause. 

The then secretary of the navy, the Hon. Samuel 
L. Southard, was one of the earliest friends of Mr. 
Stewart ; and knowing the special and deep interest 
which his voyages and residence in the Sandwich 
Islands had led him to take in the moral condition 
and improvement of seamen, urged upon him an 
appointment as chaplain in the navy, with an ar- 
rangement for making a visit to his old missionary 
station on his first cruise. The result was a voyage 
of the world, familiar to the public both of America 
and Europe in the volumes of his Visit to the South 
Seas in 1829-30. These volumss have also gone 
through many editions both at home and abroad. 

Among the numerous highly flattering notices of 
these volumes in all the leading journals and re- 
views, is the following from the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser of June, 1826, accompanying the 



CHARLES S. STEWART. 269 

first descriptive piece which appeared in print while 
he was still a missionary at the Sandwich Islands: 

" Anionaj the little band of the ministers of God who witli the zeal, 
coiirafie, and devotion of the primitive ajiostles and martyrs, liave pone 
to proclaim to the heathen the plad tidings of great joy, is the Rev. 
Charles Samuel Stewart. Inheriting an elegant competency of this 
world's goods, no pains were spared in his education, and he had nearly 
completed his studies for the legal profession, in the celebrated law 
school at Litchfield, when he entered upon the study of theology with 
the firm, and, as the event proved, unalterable, determination of devoting 
himself to the missionary cause in the Sandwich Islands. He married 
an interesting and accomjilishcd lady of Otsego county, equally devoted, 
and bade adieu to his native land in 1822. From the time of his de- 
barkation until the present his patient and unwearied exertions in the 
great cause, have been rend ;red familiar to the publi-- through the usual 
channels of missionary intelligence. We have the happiness to name 
him as our friend, and though his letters to us have indeed been, " like 
angel's visits, few and far between," on Saturday we had the pleasure of 
receiving a communication from him, of so interesting a character that 
we publish it entire, though it was written for our private information 
and amusement merely, without the most distant thought that it would 
be put in print. During the late visit of H. B. M. frigate Blonde, com- 
manded by the jjresent Lord Byron to that group of Islands, our friend 
had the ])leasure of making a voyage in her to the eastern side of 
Hawaii (Owyhee) and of spending a month there at a beautiful harbor 
never before surveyed, and now called Byron's Bay, in honor of the com- 
mander of the Blonde. One week of this time was principally occupied 
in an excursion to the great volcanoes of Kiraued, situated on the south- 
eastern side of the island, and in comparison of which, ^Etna and Ve- 
suvius and Stromboli, and every other volcano of wliich we have an 
account, dwindles into insignificance. The letter before us is a pictur- 
esque account of the writer's visit to, and a ])owerful description of this 
extraordinary phenomenon. Some account of this wonderful sea of 
troubled fire is contained in the Rev. Mr. Ellis' Tour Around Hawaii, 
with a dejjutation of the Mission in 1823. Though this was considered 
an intersting, nay, thrilling description, it no more com[>ares with that 
furnished by Mr. Stewart, either lor strength, beauty or the art of paint- 
ing the terribly sublime, than the Vesuvius does to Kiraued, It is full of 
interest. The landscape is sketched with all the freshness and talent of 
a Scot; and the fiery deep, the rolling of the flaming billows, the heavy 
columns of ascending smoke, the bursting of the numerous conical 
islands emitting pyramids of brilliant flame, and vomiting from their 
ignited mouths streams of florid lava, which rolled in blazing torrents 
down their black indented sides into the boiling mass below, are painted 
with a bold and truly masterly hand." 

As a specimen of the general nature of the criti- 
cisms of the reviews and journals on his first publi- 
cation of a volume, we copy the following: 

" It is with no ordinary pleasure that we announce the fifth edition of 
a Residence at the Sandwich Islands, by the Rev. C. S. Stewart, with an 
introduction and notes by the Rev. Mr. Ellis, from the London edition. 
Its appearance, moreover, at the present time is most opportime, from 



270 CHARLES S. STEWART. 

the reawakened interest of the Christian public in the affairs of the 
Sandwich Islands, where a work of refiL-'ions' renovation and conversion 
has l)cen in jirogross for a year past, (I838-i>) iniecpiallcd lor its extent 
and power since the diiys of the apostles, mdess we except tiic revivals 
in England and America a century ago under the preacliing of Wliit- 
field. 

Our country contains few descriptive writers who eqnal I\Ir. Stewart. 
His landscapes are sketched with all the freshness and l)eanty of nature, 
and spread before the mind of the reader with the effect of painting. 
Enually felicitous, also, are his delineations of men and manners, of 
which he is a close observer. Moreover, writing witli the heart of a 
Christian missionarj, his works have been universally popular. The 
present volume we are happy to learn, is to be ibllowed by an improved 
edition of his kindred work, A Visit to the South Seas." 

In another notice by a leading journal, the re- 
viewer th\is hints in reference to the South seas: 

" Few of the religious characters of the day hold a more conspicuous 
place in the eye of the Christian public, than the author of this very in- 
teresting work. Coming forward at comparatively an early period, in 
the history of missions, to tiie siu'prise of a large circle of fond and 
ambitious friends, he tlu'ew the whole weight of a mind, gifted, educated 
and refined in no ordinary degree — talents which had raised high ex- 
pectations in another profession — and a heart young, ardent and gene- 
rous with every noble emotion, into the scale of missionary exer- 
tions. These shores witnessed the final consecration of the little family 
of which he was a member to the service of tl)eir Redeem 3r in a foreign 
land. As their little bark loosed its moorings fr9m our beach, and they 
bid as they thought a last adieu to kindred friends and home and their 
native land, thousands of voices joined in tlie ])arting Iiynni — thousands 
of eyes filled with tears of sympathy and thousands of hearts raised, as 
we trust, the effectual, fervent prayer of the rightheous for a blessing on 
their labors. How far those prayers have been answered, tlie song of 
liosanna, and the hiun of industry now rising from tiie islands of the 
sea, can alone adequately tell. A future day will ])roclaim their influ- 
ence upon the admiring throng that was left behind — whether that 
sight did not animate and encourage many a Christian to persevere in 
fighting the good fight and call tbrtli many a renewal of vows to a cove- 
nant God — whether, as a wondering world gazed with silence and awe 
on that holy spectacle, there were not some who bethought them of the 
' reality of tliat hope which could call forth such a sacrifice. 

The melancholy eventwhich recalled him in the midst of great useful- 
ness from the scene of his labors, is wellknown to the regrets of a sym- 
pathizing Christian ])ublic; and the impressions left by his apj)eals to 
the comnnmity in behalf of nnssions in the visits to the churches, made 
by hiui extensively through their native coimtry aller his return, are still 
vivid in ten thousand minds. 

Circumstances, at which Mr. Stewart has hinted in the introduction of 
the work before us, led him, at the end of two years after his anival in 
America, to apply for a chaplaincy in the United States naval service; 
and as early as November, 18528, he received the appointment from the 
late secretary of the navy, the Honorable Mr. Southard — the friend and 
counsellor of his youth. 

It was thus during a voyage of the world, with the ])ecnliar privileges 
and opportunities for observation afforded by a government ship, amid 



CHARLES S. STEWART. 271 

scenes interesting to tlie public and liiglily gratifying to liis own feelings, 
that the work suggesting the remarks was written. It highly recommends 
itself to the Cln-istian, rejoicing to hear of the extension of religion and 
the prosperity of missions — to persons of polite reading who take [)lea- 
sure in elegant narratives and in beautiful descriptions — to all interested 
in the condition of our navy — in the civil and irioral aspect of our south- 
ern continent and the rapidly improving islands of the Pacific. It is too, 
a work higldy suited to interest, anuise and instruct youth. Scarcely 
any portion of our globe of equal extent could have been traversed with 
more jileasure by the Ciiristian, the patriot, or the philantln-oi)ist, than 
that which tiieso volumes describe. Hardly any subject could have been 
selected more interesting to the public in general — but more especially 
to the Christian public — and no pen coidd have done better justice to 
its subject. 

But it would be idle in us to speak in terms of commendation of a writer 
already so favorably and so generally known, whose fornjer work was so 
eagerly sought after and so universally admired — having gone through 
many editions both in this country and in Europe. Mr. Stewart, indeed, 
seems to hold th.it place among the journalists of the age, that Cowper 
holds among the poets of England. Like the compositions of that 
Christian bard, his writing may be read with equal [)leasure and improve- 
ment alike by the scholar, the man of taste and the humble disciple of 
the cross. Nay, more than all, they are fit models by which to form the 
taste and improve the hearts of the rising generation." 

Another journal in a critique on the same work 
says : 

"The South Seas is one of the most interesting and popular works in 
the whole range of modern voyages and travels. The author has long 
enjoyed an enviable celebrity as one of the earliest missionaries to the 
Sandwich Islands, and as the writer of the admirable work entitled A 
Residence in the Sandwich Islands, published after his return to the 
United States. That work was received with a high degree of public 
favor in England as well as in America. The present volumes are des- 
tined to a still more popular reception in both hemispheres, while they 
will establisli the reputation of the author as one of the most observing 
travelers and best descriptive writers of the day. They are indubitably 
tioni their commencement to their end among the most interesting and 
delightful books of the kind we have ever read." 

These extracts, from a few of many reviewers, are 
sufficient to give the general character of the re- 
ception and judgment by the public, of the various 
books of travel which he has published. 

The year 1832, Mr. Stewart spent, in a tour 
through England, Scotland and Ireland, which is 
also before the public in two volumes; and from 
which it is evident that he had opportunities of 
observation then not often enjoyed, by access to the 
very highest circles and most eminent personages, 



272 CHARLES S. STEWART. , 

and by partaking of their hospitality in all parts of 
the kingdom. 

In the year 1833-4, and again in 1839-40 and 4 1 he 
made a cruise in the Mediterranean, during which he 
visited the kindoms ofF ranee, Spain, Portugal, Italy, 
Greece, the Islands of the Egean, and Asia Minor. 
He was presented at the principal courts, and had 
opportunities of becoming personally known to 
many of the most eminent individuals in those 
respective countries. 

At present, and for some time past, Mr. Stewart 
has held the chaplaincy of the naval station at 
New York, which affords him opportunities of ex- 
tensive intercourse and influence with the mercan- 
tile marine. 

The following paragraph, from one of the most 
respectable reviewers in the country, referring to this 
present sphere of usefulness, does him no more than 
justice. 

" While the friends of missions were lamenting the loss of a gifted and 
faithful laborer in the interesting field of usefulness Mr. Stewart had 
occupied, He " whose ways are not as our ways," was leading him, by the 
melancholy event occasioning his recall, into a sphere more interesting, if 
possible, to the American Cln-istian. As far as man can judge, few men 
have been better fitted to improve tlie moral and religious condition of sea- 
men than Mr. Stewart Manly, frank, dignified, and pohshed, he quickly 
finds his way to the affections of the open hearted and generous sailor, 
there to stamp the image of his master. And such is the estimation in 
which he is now held by them, that his name alone is a passport to their 
confidence and regard." 

Charles Scaforth Stewart, a son of Mr. Stewart, 
graduated at West Point academy in 1846, with the 
first honors. He was a member of the largest gra- 
duating class that ever left the institution. The 
following extract from one of the leading journals 
will show the estimation in which he was held. 

" The professed and grand design of the academy is to educate and 
train for the public service the highest talent and greatest moral worth 
that can be secured in every congressional district in the Union. In the 
case of the young cadet referred to, this object has been strikingly attain- 
ed. From the records of the war department, it appears that superior 
intellectual powers and liigh moral worth, united with a sound constitu- 
tion and uniform health, were the prominent and strong grounds urged 



HARRIET B. STEWART. 273 

for the appointment conferred on him. His course at West Point, we 
learn, has nobly justified the selection. The class he joined has num- 
bered in all, since its formation, one hundred and sixty-seven members, 
sixty of whom graduate the present month. On the first examination 
cadet Stewart took the head of his class. He has maintained the position 
ever since with distinguished if not unsurpassed merit in the history of 
the academy, and graduates witfi the highest honors. 

Tliat liis father is a clergyman, and cli.iplain in the navy, long known 
and honored in the religious and literary world, in Europe as well as in 
America, certainly furnishes no reason wJiy the government should refuse 
its patronage to such a son. If it does, facts connected with the young 
man's origin, one step removed, would overthrow them. His grandfather. 
Col. Cliarles Stewart, of New Jersey, was among the n)0st active and 
influential of the patriots and soldiers of the battle ground of the revolu- 
tion, and was successively a mendjer of the first convention of that colonj', 
who formed and published a declaration of rights against the aggressions 
of the crown; a member of its first provincial congress; colonel of its 
first regiment of minute men ; colonel of its second regiment of troops 
of the line, and by appointment of the congress of 177G, one of the staff 
of Washington till the close of the war, as commissary-general of issues." 



HARRIET BRADFORD STEWART. 

^HE following highly interesting sketch of 
'"""^ the lamented wife of the subject of the 

^^ ^.^^ preceding memoir, is from a Avork by the 

m Rev. R. W. Griswold. 

i^&> "YhQ jjgxt instance with which we illustrate 



the position that the heroism of our American 
women is more courageous, more unselfish and 
more chivalric than that of the knights errant, is 
different, but by no means less interesting than the 
preceding. Anne Hasseltine and Harriet Atwood 
were born in a New England village, where, indeed, 
there was everything that to their unschooled fancies 
could render life attractive; but they had seen little 
of the great world. In their orbits they might have 
been bright particular stars, but their place was not 
in the fiery and glowing constellations of the high 
regions of civility, where the perfection of human 
art is most truly displayed in all that can charm 

35 



/\ 



274 HARRIET B. STEWART. 

the senses and induce forgetfulness of the nature 
and destiny of the soul. It was difibrent with Har- 
riet Bradford Tiffany. When she decided to be- 
come a missionary, she perceived that the decision 
involved her abandonment of a refined and brilliant 
society, in which she held a rank that might have 
satisfied the most exacting and ambitious, for a life 
of privation and peril in the midst of the abjectest 
barbarism. Yet without hesitation and without 
regret, she yielded to the convictions of duty. With 
the old knights, as sung Sir Galahad, 

"The scattering trumpet shrilleth high, 
The hard brands shiver on tlie steel, 

The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly, 
The horse and rider reel : 

They reel, they roll in clanging lists; 

But when the tide of combat stands. 
Perfume and flowers fall in showers, 

That lightly rain from ladies' hands." 

For the missionaries, however, there are no such 
artificial excitements; their loftiest triumphs bring 
no "bounteous aspects;" they look for only the 
approval of their own true hearts, the gratification 
of a noble benevolence, and the ultimate benedic- 
tion of "Well done, good and faithful servants." 

Miss Tiffany was born near Stamford, in Connec- 
ticut, on the 24th of June, 1798. Her father was 
honorably distinguished as a colonel in the revolu- 
tion, and her mother was a descendant of William 
Bradford, the leader of the pilgrims of Leyden, and 
for thirty years the governor of Plymouth colony. 
When a child, she was distinguished for a winning 
sweetness of disposition and a lively sensibility; 
and the celebrated Gouverneur Morris, who was in 
the habit of meeting her at the Springs of Lebanon, 
often spoke of her as presenting at this period one 
of the most perfect pictures of beautiful childhood 
he had ever seen. Her father died while she was 
very young, and she passed her youth chiefly under 
the guardianship of an uncle, in Albany; but the 



HARRIET B. STEWART. 275 

marriage of an elder sister, in 1815, to a gentleman 
of Cooperstown, led her from that time to make 
his house her abode; and the appointment of her 
brother, soon after, to the rectorship of the episcopal 
church in that village, brought into nearer associa- 
tion than for many previous years all the members 
of her family. 

The two or three succeeding years, observes Mr. 
Stewart in the beautiful memoir from which we 
derive these particulars, were to her a period of 
much enjoyment; but the sunshine of earthly hap- 
piness seldom warms the heart into a love for God, 
or is made the means of converting the soul to His 
service; and it was not until the occurrence of a 
protracted and dangerous illness, in the summer of 
1819, that she became convinced of the necessity 
of spiritual peace to the highest felicity even in the 
present existence. 

It was two years after her recovery — in the au- 
tumn of 1821 — that she received an ofter of marriage 
from the Rev. C. S. Stewart, then just appointed by 
the American Board of Foreign Missions a mission- 
ary to the Sandwich Islands. She was absent from 
Cooperstown, and in the letters which she wrote at 
the time to her mother and to others, letters which 
illustrate alike her piety, the beautiful order of her 
character, and the cultivati9n of her mind, her feel- 
ings, are fully disclosed. "Oh! how much," she 
wrote to a dear friend, "how much do I need ad- 
vice, yet how unwilling to seek it except of' God. 
To Him I do go, and on Him alone it is my wish 
to depend for guidance, in this most important 
event of my life. In myself I am short-sighted and 
blind, and know not in any case, what is best even 
for my own good: how much, then, do I not now 
stand in need of the kind and overruling direction 
of a Father, and of heavenly wisdom and grace. 
In Him I trust for strength and support, and in 
casting my cares upon Him, find peace. I know 



276 HARRIET B. STEWART. 

that He will order all thinn^s well; and it is my 
earnest prayer, that He will make my path of duty 
plain, and enable me to walk in it, whatever it may 
be, with a cheerful will." 

She submitted her decision, tremblingly, to her 
mother, to whom she was bound with a most tender 
devotion. " The warm benevolence of her nature 
is such," she wrote, "that when the miseries of her 
fellow creatures are known to her, she hesitates at 
no self-denial, nor sacrifice of personal feeling, to 
impart relief; but to consign a child she most ten- 
derly loves, and to whom in common with her other 
children she has been entirely devoted, to a life of 
privation, of suffering and of danger, and a thousand 
ills which unbidden present themselves to the im- 
ao^iuation, will call into exercise her whole stock of 
piety. Happy will she be if her faith fail not." 
Her faith did not fail. By a letter, the reception of 
which is noted on the 4th of January, 1822, she 
surrendered her daughter cheerfully to a distant 
and self-denying exile. Miss Tiffany now returned 
to Cooperstown, to pass a few weeks with her family, 
and to prepare for her departure. The scenes of 
separation, the ocean and its storms, dangers and 
death in a savage land, often flitted in shadowy 
forms before her; but she did not falter. In a spirit 
of humble and confidirig faith and brave determin- 
ation, she consecrated herself to the missionary 
work. On the 3d of June she was married, at Al- 
bany; on the 19th of November, in a company of 
some thirty missionaries with whom they were to 
be associated, she and her husband embarked at 
New Haven, and after a voyage of near six months, 
on the 27th of April, 1823, they arrived at Honolulu, 
in Oahu, the principal port of the Sandwich Islands. 

In the appointments of the missionaries to the 
different islands of the group, soon after their land- 
injr, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart and Mr. and Mrs. Rich- 
ards were assigned to Maui, three days' sail from 



HARRIET B. STEWART. 277 

Oalin ; and here, at the town of Lahaiua, in the 
midst of twenty thousand of the rudest and most 
ignorant and superstitious heathen, they took up 
their abode. Their new home consisted of two 
small native huts, each of a single apartment, and 
furnished with mats, their trunks, and a few seats 
and tables made of the packing-boxes they had 
carried from America. But great as was this 
change to Mrs. Stewart, from the elegancies and 
luxuries to which she had been accustomed, " the 
sun in its circuit rose and set upon no brighter brow, 
nor upon a more contented heart." She wrote in a 
letter dated the 1st of January, 1824, "It is now 
fifteen months since I bade adieu to the dear valley 
which contains much, very much, that is most dear 
to me ; but since the day I parted from it my spirits 
have been uniformly good. Sometimes it is true, 
a cloud of tender recollections passes over me, ob- 
scuring for a moment my mental vision, and threat- 
ening a day of darkness; but it is seldom. And as 
the returning sun, after a summer shower, spreads 
his beams over the retiring gloom of the heavens 
and stretches abroad the shining arch of promise to 
cheer the face of nature, so, at such times, do the 
rays of the sun of righteousness speedily illumine 
the hopes of my soul, and fill my bosom with joy 
and peace." About six months afterward she wrote 
to her friends, " We are most contented and most 
happy, and rejoice that God has seen fit to honor 
and bless us by permitting us to be the bearers of 
his light and truth to this dark corner of the earth. 
Could you feel the same gladness that often fills our 
bosoms, in witnessing the happy influence of the 
Gospel on the minds and hearts of many of these 
interesting creatures, you would be satisfied, yes 
more than satisfied, that we should be what we are^ 
and where we are^ 'poor missionaries in the distant islands 
of the sea.'' 



278 HARRIET B. STEWART. 

Mrs. Stewart's health continued to be good until 
the month of March, in 1825, when some over- 
exertion during the illness of nearly all the other 
members of the mission family, laid the foundation 
of a disease which in a few weeks brought her to 
the very gates of death. While she was in this 
condition, the Sandwich Islands were visited by 
Lord Byron, in the Blonde ship of war, and this 
nobleman kindly offered her a passage to Hawaii, 
which was accepted; but the change of air during 
a month in which the ship was refitting for the sea, 
having failed of its effect, it was decided by the 
mission, under the advice of several physicians, to 
be Mr. Stewart's duty to return with her to the 
United States. They accordingly availed them- 
selves of the first opportunity to sail for London, 
where they arrived in April, 1826. Mrs. Stewart 
was now in a state of helplessness and imminent 
danger; but after a residence of three months in 
England, she was able to continue her homeward 
voyage; and embarking near the end of July, she 
reached New York after a pleasant passage; and 
on the 13th of September was reunited with her 
friends in the valley of Otsego. 

It was her first wish to have a restoration of such 
strength as would warrant a return with her hus- 
band to the mission, in which their evident useful- 
ness had amply vindicated the accordance of their 
original dedication of themselves with the will of 
God. But they were both reluctantly compelled to 
abandon the expectation of safely revisiting a tropi- 
cal climate. In January, 1830, Mrs. Stewart was 
again laid upon abed of suffering; and after linger- 
ing for eight months upon the verge of life, with 
the most child-like and confiding trust in the grace 
and mercy of the All Friend, she fell into the sleep 
which knows no earthly waking. 



JOHN NEWTON. 279 



JOHN NEWTON. 

The voice of Old Age, while it tells some old story, 

Exults o'er the tale with fresh wai-mth in the breast, 
As the haze of the twilight e'er deepens the glory 

Of beams that are fast going down in the west. 
When the friends of our boyliood are gathered around us, 

The spirit retraces its wild flower track; 
TJie heart is still held by the strings that first bound us, 

And Feeling keeps singing, while wandering back, 
"Don't you remember?" 

EAUTIFULLY situated in the town of 
Middlefield, Massachusetts, and nes- 
tled by the side of a green mountain, 
may be seen a plain white cottage of 
the olden time. At the door is a never- 
failing spring, whose waters, clear as crys- 
tal, go murmuring along evermore as Time 
flows unto Eternity. 



In this sweet solitude the sunny weather 

Hath called to life light shades and fairy elves; 
The rose-buds lay their crimson lips together, 

And the green leaves are whispering to themselves; 
The clear, faint starlight on the blue wave flashes. 

And, filled with odors sweet, the south wind blows; 
The purple clusters load the lilac bushes. 

And fragrant blossoms fringe the apple boughs. 

Pleasant sights are these to one wearied with the 
dull formality of a city life. O truly there are wak- 
ing dreams which come upon us sometimes when 
we least expect them — bright dreams of love and 
home and heaven — sweet visions of a happier 
existence, where flowers shall eternally spring up 
to bless us with their presence. This is a beautiful 
world after all; and its few days, its wilderness 
wanderings, make us prize the sunlight all the 
more. 

A short time ago, an aged pilgrim might have 
been seen at that cottage window in the quiet 




280 JOHN NEWTON. 

evening- hour, reading the sacred Bible, with the last 
red ray, resting like a glory upon her brow. The 
thoughts of many of her sons, scattered in various 
parts of the Union, would often conjure up that 
picture; with the vision of their childhood's home 
for off among the green hills, came that pleasant 
face — the face of a beloved mother. But after a 
few setting suns, the Bible was closed, for a good 
angel had come down from the blue heavens and 
beckoned the reader away ! That Bible was closed ; 
but Heaven, the land of the Bible, opened in its 
stead ! 

In that same cottage is another aged Christian, 
whose years have nearly numbered a century. It 
is John Newton, the husband of the departed. He 
has seen many troubles, but God's blessing is upon 
him — the blessing of a cheerful heart. His vision 
is failing, but there is a light of kindly cheerfulness 
that burns within, that we may not often see in this 
world of care and grief; and it was with a feeling 
of reverence that the author gleaned from him the 
following particulars: 

His paternal ancestor was Israel Newton. He, 
with his wife, left England on account of religious 
persecution, about the middle of the seventeenth 
century, and settled at Narraganset, Avhere he had 
two sons besides several daughters. Alice, the eld- 
est, married an Englishman named Robert Ransom. 
She lived to a great age, and was the mother of 
eleven children. It appears from an old newspaper, 
that she had, previous to her death, two hundred 
descendants in the fourth, and one hundred and 
twenty-two in the fifth generation. There is a 
pleasing and well-authenticated incidentin connex- 
ion with the marriage of Alice, which is worthy of 
record. It appears that Ransom, soon after his 
arrival at Narraganset, became deeply enamored of 
his future wife; but with the instinct of a true 
lover, he saw there was a great difficulty in his 



JOHN NEWTON. 281 

path. It was, that he could neither read nor lorite ! 
Now Alice was a well educated and pious maiden, 
and it was not to be thought probable that her dark 
eyes would look lovingly upon a suitor so lamenta- 
bly deficient. But says the wise man, "Love is 
stronger than death — many waters cannot quench 
it, neither can the floods drown it." So Robert, 
like an able general, successfally managed to con- 
ceal the defenceless portion of his position. AVhen 
in the company of lady love, he invariably had re- 
ligious books with him, and would at times appear 
devoutly absorbed in the study of them. It has 
been said, though with more poetry than truth, that 
"Aflection, like spring flowers, breaks through the 
most frozen soil at last," and the guileless Alice, no 
doubt looking forward to a happy future in the 
literary society of Robert, listened to his soft whis- 
pers; and for once in this wide world, two hearts 
were wreathed with the garland of first love! "Most 
happy, most blessed are those, on whose first love 
the seal of reality has been set, whose summer has 
developed and ripened the seed sown in spring- 
time, and whose worship through life, is at the 
altar on Avhich the vestal fire has been lighted." 
Life is rich. Its tree blossoms eternally, because it 
is nourished by immortal fountains. And youthful 
love — the beaming passion-flower of earth ! Who 
will belie its captivating beauty? Alas that such 
love should be unrequited, or turned back in cold- 
ness upon the crushed heart of its giver ! 

Hark! hark! again the tread of bashful feet! 

Hark! the boiiglis rustling round the trysting-place ! 
Let air again with one dear breath be sweet, 
Earth fair with one dear face ! 

Brief lived first flowers, first love ! the hours steal on, 

To prank the world in summer's pomp of hue; 
But what shall flaunt beneath a fiercer sun 

Worth what wo lose in you ? 

It must not be supposed that this literary decep- 
tion could be continued after marriage, for the facts 

36 



282 JOHN NEWTON. 

soon came out in bold relief. On the day after the 
wedding, Alice suggested the propriety of com- 
mencing the practice of daily reading and prayer 
at the family altar. But what was her aslonish- 
ment on hearing her partner make a full confession 
of his guilt, stating that his sole object in pretend- 
ing to read, was to obtain her ! Now Alice was a 
true woman, and the fault, of which he had been 
guilty out of love to her, could not remain long un- 
forgiven. But, O the perseverance of woman ! she 
commenced that very hour to give him lessons, and 
it was not very long ere Robert could both read and 
write; and, until they were gathered to the green 
garden of the dead, the murmur of the daily prayer 
went up to the great Author of Love. 

At a subsequent period, which can not be pre- 
cisely ascertained, Israel, the father of Alice, re- 
moved with his family to the place which now 
comprises the town of Colchester, in Connecticut. 
At that time the land was so cheap that he could 
have purchased the whole for a moderate sum. He 
died full of years, and was buried in the rear of the 
congregational meeting house, where his tomb- 
stone, supported by carved pillars, may yet be seen. 

The two sons of the above named Israel Newton, 
were Israel and James Newton. James* was the 
paternal grandfather of John Newton ofMiddlefield. 
Israel was a major, and was at the taking of Louis- 
burg, where he shortly afterwards died from over- 
fatigue. They were both deacons of the congre- 
gational church. 

James had three sons, John, James and Israel.f 

* From the Colchester town records, it appears that Ephrairn Little 
was ordained pastor of the first congregational church in that ])]ace, 
September 20, 1732, and on the list of the male members of the church, 
made out by him, Captain James Newton stands first. From the same 
record it ap])cars that James Newton married the widow Barnard, ajid that 
he died in the 85th year of his age. 

I Israel was a man of extraordinary strength. On one occasion, ow- 
ing to a jocular remark by a neighbor, he took hold of a j»Iow, and 
in spite of the exertions of a powerful horse, urged by the whip, held 



JOHN NEWTON. 283 

John, the father of the subject of this memoir, was 
born at Colchester, Connecticut, in 1722. On the 
27th of December, 1756, he married Mary Ilolbrook 
of Lebanon, Connecticut. He died in 1807, aged 
eighty-five. His wife died in 1818, at tlie same 
age. 

John Newton, of Middlefield, was born at Col- 
chester, on the 8th of April, 1758, and was brought 
up on his father's farm. He had three brothers, 
James, Abel and Amasa; also a sister Mary. 

When about twenty years of age, John was sent 
to Wyoming, in Peimsylvania, to attend to a farm, 
owned by his fitlier in that section. This was in 
the troublesome times, just previous to the massa- 
cre under Brandt. On his arrival he discovered, 
that, owing to the number of Indians concealed in 
various parts, it was necessary to go constantly 
armed. So that every man at work upon his land 
invariably had a loaded gun within reach. Not- 
withstanding this precaution, many were the lives 
lost by Indians firing from the shelter of trees. 
Matters, however, were soon brought to a crisis, for 
on the arrival of Brandt, with Indians and Tories 
" numerous as the leaves of the forest," the surviv- 
ing settlers ran for safety to the forts. After the 
caption by the Indians of the upper fort, John made 
the best of his way to the middle fort, which he 
supposed was still in the possession of the whites. 
But on ascending a hill, a short distance from the fort, 
he was astonished at seeing a number of Indians out- 
it stationary for some minutes. On another occasion, being assaulted by 
a notorious bully, who was the dread of the settlement, Israel, to the 
great delight of the ])eople, inflicted such a sunmiary chastisement upon 
th(! fellow, as to render him humble ever after. At anotiier time, when 
justice of the peace and quite old, he was met in the road by a young 
f'irmer, who, glorying in his strength, laughingly said, " Squire Newton 
I know that I coud throw you." " You tiirow me," said the squire, " why, 
I could throw you with one finger." So, by nmtual agreement, they tried 
the experiment. The squire placed his fore finger in the neckcloth of 
his antagonist, and, although he did not succeed in throwing him he 
swung him to and fro so powerfully, that the latter was very soon satia^ 
fied. 



284 JOHN NEWTON. 

side, who, as soon as they observed him, immediately 
ran within. Instantly sheltering himself behind a 
large tree, John flew witli all his mi»"ht towards 
the lower fort, closely followed by a party of Indians, 
who, on liis first appearance near the middle fort, 
had supposed him to be the head of a detachment ; 
hence their sudden retreat. 

On the arrival at the lower fort, John found its 
occupants engaged in the funeral service over one of 
their number; but on his apprising them of the 
near approach of the foe, the chaplain broke oft' his 
prayer, and all seized their arms, having but little 
hope of escaping the savage demons around them; 
the capitulation of this fort, and the occurrences of 
the horrible massacre of Wyoming, are too well 
known to need description. 

A very valuable horse belonging to John, having 
been taken by the Indians as a pack horse to carry 
off' the spoil, he, faint and weary, made the best of 
his way home through the trackless wilderness, be- 
ing a great portion of the time without food and 
suffering almost every hardship. To give in detail 
this interesting portion of his life, Avould require a 
volume. 

On the 3d of February, 1785, John Newton mar- 
ried Martha AVhiting, of Colchester, with whom he 
lived happily for nearly sixty-four years. She died 
at Middlefield, Massachusetts, December the 5th, 
1848. She was, for a great many years, a member 
of the baptist church."* 

Burning with indignation against the tyranny of 

* Her paternal ancestor was a Frcnclinian, named Rajmond, who, 
with his wife, lived for some time on Block Island. A law havin<? been 
passed, forbiddinj: any man from jjiving "aid or comfort" to the notori- 
ous pirate Kidd, it is said that the wife of Raymond, in defiance of the 
law, had several cattle driven down to the coast lor the pirate, who, in 
return, rewardefl her handsomely with gold. On being called to ac- 
count ijy the authorities, it is said she was her own counsel, and extorted 
a reluctant accpiittal l)y pointing out the liict that the word of the law 
prohibited only '■ men," and not women. It is added that no time was 
lost in including the feminine gender. 



JOHN NEWTON. 285 

the British, John served a considerable period in the 
revolationary war, and he was one of those who 
worked so laboriously in the erection of Fort Truni- 
ball. 

Soon after his marriage, having exchanged farms 
with a brother, the subject of our sketch removed 
from Colchf^ster to Middlefield, his present resi- 
dence. The country was then a wilderness, and 
there were innumerable difficulties to overcome, of 
which the modern farmer can form but little idea. 

Feeling rather above being in a log house, John, 
at considerable expense and trouble, erected a neat 
frame dwelling, the foundation of which is still to 
be seen. With the wisdom of riper years, he regrets 
that he did not purchase stock for his farm instead 
of thus gratifying his pride. In a short time his 
troubles commenced, for one of his oxen died, and 
his only horse was killed by the falling of a tree. 
But his motto was " hope on, hope ever," and with 
an invincible perseverance, his house in the forest 
soon became the abode of comfort. It is now more 
than sixty years since he settled at Middlefield; and 
this venerable man must often revert with pleasure 
to the season of his early difficulties; and comfort 
himself with the reflection, that a cool head, an in- 
vigorating mind, a warm heart and diligent hands, 
with benevolence and honesty, piety and persever- 
ance, will insure success in any laudable undertak- 
ing within the sphere of personal ability. 

Mr. Newton became a member of the baptist 
church at Hinsdale, Massachusetts, of which he 
was appointed deacon, nearly half a century ago. 

He has had six sons and one daughter. The 
name of the daughter was Lucy. She died on the 
loth of November, 1811, in the fourteenth year of 
her age, and was buried at Middlefield. 

The eldest son, William, a self-made man in the 
fullest sense of the word, and deservedly respected, 
was born at Bozrah, Connecticut. His first wife 



286 JOHN NEWTON. 

was Miss Frances Longyear. She died while on a 
visit to Middlefield, after a short illness, on the 28th 
of August, 1822, aged twenty-eight years and nine 
months. She was much beloved by all who knew 
her, and her memory will long be cherished. Her 
remains lie in the beautiful burial ground at Mid- 
dlefield, near those of Lucy and Martha. She had 
four daughters, three of whom are now living.* 

John Milton INewton, the second son, a man of 
indomitable energy, resides at Newton's Corners, a 
most delightful and rapidly increasing settlement, 
named after him, a few miles from Albany. He 
has a son and a daughter. 

Amasa resides in Ohio, Henry in Illinois, and Asa 
in Kentucky. Ambrose the youngest son, a man 
of great intelligence and a practical farmer, married 
Miss Meacham. He has served in the Massachu- 

* Sarah the eldest married Mr. James II Baker, She died at Newport, 
Herkimer county, New York, on the 10th of June, 1842. She was of a 
most amiable disposition, and irom a child exhibited traits of character 
seldom seen. Truly 

Earth lias its anyels, thou!;li their forms are moulded 

Um ol" such clay as fashions all ; 
Though harps are wautmg and hright pinions folded, 

We know them by the love.light on iheir brow. 

She had long been a faithful follower of the Saviour, and had adorned 
her profession by a well ordered life and a godly conversation. She was 
ill but the short space of eight days; and ere the arrival of a beloved 
sister from Albany, she had departed to that " beautil'ul of lands," where 
there is no more weeping, anrl where the reme?nbrance of pain is swal- 
lowed up in happiness unspeakable. 

The vine- flower and the briar rose 

Above thy grave sod bloom; 
And in tlie uiidisturhcil repose 

IJrcathe out ihcir swct-t perfume; 
While fllttiiii; birds sliall fold their wings, 

And warble to tlie air, 
As if to calm the sorrowings 

Of those who linger there. 

Two weeks previous to her decease, a near relative had a remarkable 
dream to that effect, and awoke in tears. Her fears were smiled at, but 
the fact thus foreshadowed proved true. 

The far wandering of the soul in dreams. 

Calling up shrouiled faces from the dead, 
And with them bringing soft or solemn gleams, 

Familiar objects brightly to o'er spread, 
Aud wakening buried love, or joy to fear — 
These arc nights' mysteries. Who shall make tliem clear? 



JOHN NEWTON. 287 

setts legislature, and resides at Middlefield. He 
also has one son and daughter. 

Ere another year has passed, with its beautiful 
hopes, its sunshine and its flowers, its sorrows and 
its tears, it may be that the venerable John Newton 
will have gone to his happy home. But when he 
dies, what a volume of history will be for ever lost. 
"What springs laden with blossoms have been his; 
what sunny and beautiful summers; what autumns 
with their golden fruit! He is a relic of forgotten 
years. He has survived the overthrow of nations, 
and the changes of dynasties,, and crumbling of 
thrones. He was old when the star of Napoleon 
went down on Waterloo, and yet lives to see another 
of the name sway the destinies of France. 

"When youth is crushed by the iron tread of 
death, we shrink and are sad; when manhood is 
broken down we tremble; but when old age, after 
a long contest, yields at last, then men may smile." 

In the town records of Stonington, Connecticut, is a notice of Matthew 
Newton who married Mary TifTt, and who had a son Matthew, born Jan- 
uary 12, 1727. 

On a tomb at Milford, Connecticut, is the following inscription: 
The truly honorable and pious Roger Newton, Esq., an officer of dis- 
tinguished note in ye expeditions of 1709 and 1710, for many years one 
of ye council, and colonel of the second regiment of militia, — ^judge of 
the court of common pleas 33 years, until he depai'ted this life January 
15, 1771, in the 87th year of his age. 

His mind returned to God, entombed here lies 
The purt the hero Il-Ti beneath the skies; 
Newton as steel, inflexible from right 
In faith, in law, in equity, in fight. 



2S8 LYMAN TREMAIN. 



LYMAN TREMAIN. 




'HEN Lord Eld on was senior resident fellow 
of University eollege, two undergraduates 
^ -, .. came to complain to him that "the cook 
^^ had sent them np an apple pie that could not be 
^^ eaten." The defendant being summoned, said, 
*'I have a remarkably fine fillet of veal in the kitch- 
en." The judge immediately overruled this plea as 
tendering an immaterial issue, and ordered aproferat 
in curiam of the apple pie. The messenger sent to 
execute this order, brought intelligence that the other 
under-graduates, taking advantage of the absence of 
the two plaintiffs, had eaten up the whole of the 
apple pie. Thereupon judgment was thus pro- 
nounced: "The charge here is, that the cook has 
sent up an apple pie that cannot be eaten. Now, 
that can not be said to be uneatable, which has been 
eaten; and as this apple pie has been eaten, it was 
eatable. Let the cook be absolved." 

So a similar judgment must be pronounced against 
those who, in the face of facts, are constantly con- 
tending, that age is indispensable to the possession 
of great knowledge. A better instance than the 
subject of this sketch could not have been selected 
for the purpose of illustrating the fallacy of such a 
belief 

It is true, the lives of but few men, before they 
arrive at middle age, present materials sufficient to 
allow them a place among the eminent of their land. 
Occasionally, however, it happens, that we see one, 
long before he has reached the meridian of life, urged 
forward by the spirit within him, rising like a bright 
star above the horizon. And although enjoying ad- 
vantages, or placed in circumstances in no degree 
superior to the mass around him, yet we see him 
alone the architect of his fortune, surmounting all 



LYMAN TREMAIN. 289 

obstacles, carving out for himself a name, and leav- 
ing all competitors in the race for honorable dis- 
tinction, in the distance. 

The mention of the name at the head of this 
sketch, to those acquainted with the individual who 
bears it, will suggest to them an instance of one, 
who, in extreme youth, and while others of riper 
years, with severe toil, were yet slowly acquiring 
the elements of knowledge and science, had already, 
with a mental power which seemed intuitive, mas- 
tered these, and entered upon the severe studies 
which were to prepare him for the discharge of the 
onerous duties of the profession to which he is de- 
votedly attached, and in which he may be said to 
have already become eminent, at an age when most 
of his associates were just entering upon its active 
duties. 

Judge Tremain was born on the 14th of June, 
1819, in Durham, Greene county, N. Y., a quiet 
town, situated twenty miles west of the Hudson 
river, whose inhabitants, mostly devoted to agricul- 
tural pursuits, constitute as moral, industrious and 
thriving a community, as is to be found within the 
limits of New- York. His father, Levi Tremain, 
with his wife, came to Durham, where he settled 
in the year 1812, from Berkshire county, Mass.; a 
region of country to which one may be proud to 
trace his ancestry, and to which may be referred, 
directly or remotely, many of the brightest intellects 
now to be found in almost every part of this wide- 
spread country. His parents, although in middle 
life, are distinguished in a more than ordinary de- 
gree, for the intelligence and shrewdness of their 
fatherland, mingled with a sprightliness and humor 
but rarely found in those who have passed the me- 
ridian of life. His grandfather, Nathaniel Tremain, 
died recently at Pittsfield, Mass. He was a revo- 
lutionary soldier, and contributed his share in pur- 
chasing American freedom. When the war was 

37 



290 LYMAN TREMAIN. 

over, he chose to enjoy the fruits of the soil he had 
helped to win, in iollowing- the peaceful life of the 
husbandman, for the remainder of his days. He 
was distinguished alike for his sterling integrity, and 
a fair degree of the intelligence which has descend- 
ed in so large a measure to the third generation. 

The only means of education enjoyed by the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was in the common and select 
schools of his native town, and at Kinderhook acad- 
emy — his name always standing the highest. At 
the academy he took the lead in his studies; be- 
came well acquainted with the classics; and from 
here we may trace him as a speaker; a capacity in 
which he is more particularly distinguished. He 
has a voice of great compass and richness, combined 
with a good articulation.* At the very early age of 
fourteen, he delivered an original speech at the semi- 
annual exhibition at Kinderhook, which was loudly 
applauded by the audience, entirely contrary to the 
rules of the principal, and called from him a request 
that it should not be repeated. 

* Thi:?, when addressing large audiences, enables him to be heard 
at a great distance. "It is a curious fact in the history of sound, that the 
loudest noises always perish on the spot where they are produced, 
whereas musical notes will be heard at a great distance. Tims, if we 
approach within a mile or two of a town or village in which a fair is held, 
we may hear very faintly tiie clamor of the midtitiule, but more distinctly 
the organs and other nujsical instruments wiiich are i)layed lor their 
amusement. If a Cremona violin, a I'eal Amati, be played by the side of 
a modern fiddle, the latter will sound much the louder of the two; but 
the sweet, brilliant tone of the Amati, will be heard at a distance the 
other can not reach. Dr. Young, on the authority of Derham, states that 
at Gibraltar, tlie human voice may be heard at a greater distance than 
that of any other animal. Thus, when the cottager in the woods, or in 
the open plain, wishes to call her husband, who is working at a distance, 
she does not shout, but i)itches her voice to a musical key, which she 
knows from habit, and by that means reaches his ear. The loudest roar 
of the largest lion could not penetrate so lar. 'This property of music 
in the human voice,' says the author, 'is strikingly siiown in the cathe- 
drals abroad. Here the mass is entirely performed in musical sounds, 
■ and becomes audible to every devotee, however placed in the remotest 
part of the church; whereas, if the same mass had been read, tlie sounds 
-woidd not have traveled beyond the precincts of the choir.' Those ora- 
tors who are heard in large assemblies most distinctly, and at the great- 
est distance, are those who, by modulating the voice, render it more 
musical. Loud speakers are seldom heard to advantage." 



LYMAN TREMAIN. 291 

At the ag-e of fifteen, with an education better than 
many graduates possess, he entered the law office 
of John O'Brien, Esquire, of Durham, as a student 
at law. Here, while pursuing his studies, at this 
early age, he immediately commenced trying causes 
in justices' courts, not only in his own county, but 
in the adjoining counties of Schoharie, Albany and 
Delaware, in which he was very successful, and ac- 
quired great skill in the management of causes, and 
there became intimately acquainted with human 
nature. At these trials, crowds always flocked, as 
they said, "to hear the boy plead law." During 
this extensive practice, however, in the inferior 
conrts, his studies were by no means neglected. No 
student attended more closely to them. As an 
evidence of which, we have been credibly informed, 
that during his clerkship he read through, out of the 
ordinary course, every volume of Cowen and Wen- 
dell's Reports, a task from which older heads might 
shrink in despair.^ 

With Mr. O'Brien, and a few months in the office 
of Samuel Sherwood, Esquire, an eminent lawyer 
in New- York city, his clerkship was passed; and at 
the age of twenty-one he was admitted to practice 
in the supreme court of New- York. His fame as a 
lawyer and advocate having already preceded him, 
he immediately entered upon an extensive and lu- 
crative practice of his profession, in his native coun- 
ty, and in the counties adjoining, which practice 
has been steadily increasing ever since. 

Early in life. Judge Tremain embarked on the 
exciting and stormy sea of politics; and, unlike 
many others, he has been able to guide his bark in 
safety, amid the dangers, seen and unseen, peculiar 

* Like that eminent lawyer, Sir Edward Sugden, his plan of study- 
was as follows: He resolved, when beginning to read law, to make 
every tiling he acquired perfectly his own, and never to go to a second 
thing till he had entirely accomplished the first. Many of his competi- 
tors read as much in a day as he read in a week ; but at the end of twelve 
months his knowledge was as fresh as the day it was acquired, while 
theirs had glided away from recollection. 



292 LYMAN TREMAIN. 

to that troubled ocean. His voice, at a very early- 
age, was heard, and his pen known and felt, in 
county conventions, and contributed in no small 
degree to the advancement of the principles of the 
democratic party in his county and state, of which 
he has always been a warm and ardent supporter. 
His speeches, resolutions and addresses, at that early 
age, evinced a knowledge of history, of public and 
political affairs, and a maturity of judgment and in- 
tellect, but rarely surpassed by the older veterans of 
his party. His fame in this department becoming 
known, his voice and pen were often called by his 
partv, as years rolled on, in other parts of the state, 
as well as in his own county, to take an active part 
in the various political contests between the two 
dominant parties of this country. 

In the month of August, 1842, Judge Tremain 
was married to the amiable and excellent lady who 
is his present wife, in the town of Catskill ; a com- 
panion in every respect suitable to him, and who 
sympathises with and lightens his cares as they pass 
along together the journey of life, in domestic hap- 
piness and tranquility. 

An obliging disposition and courteous manner, 
added to the talents which he possessed, had so flir 
won upon the confidence and affection of the people, 
that at the early age of twenty-three he was pre- 
sented by the democracy of his native town for the 
office of supervisor. This town was a strong whig 
town, but notwithstanding this, and the maxim 
universally accredited that, " a prophet is not with- 
out honor save in his own country," and in spite of 
party prejudice and feeling, he was elected by a 
handsome majority over a strong competitor, who 
enjoyed the confidence of his party. 

On the month of February, 1846, Judge Tremain 
was unanimously appointed district attorney for the 
county of Greene. The judges were at that time 
divided by the divisions which distracted the demo- 



LYMAN TREMAIN. 293 

cratic party, nevertheless they all concurred in his 
appointment. An nnnsual amount of important 
criminal business fell to his lot during the short 
term in which he held the office, which he dis- 
charged with that energy and fidelity so character- 
istic of him, and which served to elevate him still 
higher as a lawyer and a man in the estimation of 
his associates at the bar, and the people. At this 
time his large and extensive civil business in the 
courts in his own county and the counties adjoining 
he sufiTered not to flag in the least, but carried it 
through those several courts successfully with una- 
bated skill and energy. 

We may here remark what has often been noticed 
by others in regard to the subject of this sketch, 
that in whatever situation he was placed, and he 
has been in many sufficient to try the nerve and 
intellect of the strongest in his profession, he has 
always been equal to the occasion, issuing from its 
sternest conflicts, seemingly renewed in strength 
for fresh encounters. 

One cause of Judge Tremain's success in life, 
among others, we think may be attributed to the 
rule of conduct, which he seems to have inflexibly 
laid down for himself, never to be hurried or driven 
by business, but on the contrary rigidly to perform 
the Wsiness of to-day while it is to-day. In no 
other way under the cares and pressure of business, 
do we perceive, especially at his early age, how he 
could preserve the equanimity of mind and temper 
which he in so remarkable a degree possesses, and 
find time to dispense the many little courtesies and 
kindnesses among his neighbors and friends which 
go to make up so much of life. He also finds leisure*' 
moments, those odds and ends of time, which right- 
ly improved, a great philosopher has said constitute 
the best part of man's existence, not only to store 
his mind with that knowledge which enables him 
to tread the higher walks of his profession, but to 



294 LYMAN TREMAIN. 

study and become familiar with the copious litera- 
ture of our lanonage, which is a rich legacy to all 
who have the mind and the will to enjoy its bless- 



ings. 



Having received the regular nomination of his 
party in the spring of the year 1847, for the office of 
county judge of Greene county, he was elected to 
that office in the judiciary election in June of that 
year. In his election to this office, which also em- 
braces the office of surrogate, he had two competi- 
tors, one whig and one democrat, both popular and 
leading men in the county, and both residing at the 
county seat, which gave them a great advantage. 
He was elected notwithstanding, by a handsome 
majority over both, and a majority over the regular 
opposition candidate of twelve hundred, a majority 
greater than was ever given in the county when 
the democratic party was united. 

The orator of fourteen years of age now stands 
before us 'as Judge Tremain at twenty-nine, still 
distinguished for the same talents which then called 
forth such admiration and applause, but expanded, 
and developed in maturer years, by the varied toils 
and scenes and conflicts of professional and political 
life in which he has passed. His clear discriminat- 
ing mind, sound judgment, and thorough know- 
ledge of the law; and not less, his amenity of man- 
ners, render hitn an ornament to the station which 
he occupies; the duties of which he discharges 
with his accustomed energy and ability; amid the 
cares and responsibilities of a large and increasing 
practice in the higher courts of the state. 

We can not dismiss this subject without remark- 
ing, that Judge Tremain is another and striking in- 
stance of the influence of republican institutions, 
in elevating the moral, intellectual, and physical 
condition of the people, and assigning to genius 
and talent its proper station and reward. Well 
may the American, as he traverses other climes 



SIMEON DRAPER, SEN. 295 

and countries, and witnesses humanity down-trod- 
den and oppressed, and genius and talent of little 
use in elevating its possessor, Avithout the sordid 
appliances of over-grown wealth and pov/er, ex- 
claim, with a deptli of feeling such as the inhabit- 
ants of no other country possesses, " This is my 
own, my native land." 




SIMEON DRAPER, SEN. 

" Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 

'Tis only noble to be good ; 
Kind hearts are more than coronets, 

And simple faith than Norman blood." 

N the 28th of December, 1848, the vene- 
rable Simeon Draper, of Brookfield, after 

sojourning on earth for eighty- four years, 

JSientered upon his immortal existence. 
.OT He belonged to that class of men who are 
scattered all over New England, whose purity of 
character, integrity of purpose, and similarity of man- 
ners, are only equalled by their manly sense and 
soundness of judgment. 

With a heartglowing with patriotism, Mr. Draper 
when quite a youth, entered the continental army 
and was a brave soldier of the revolution. 

He was a member of the convention of 1820, to 
amend the constitution of Massachusetts, and he 
served in the legislature of that state for more than 
thirty years. While in that body he was an ardent 
supporter of the cause of education. He knew that 
in the school-house lie the seeds of the true great- 
ness of any country. And what have not these 
school-houses done for New England? They are 
her pride, her bulwark and her strength. By their 
power, her rough hills have been smoothed, and 



296 SIMEON DRAPER, SEN. 

their craggy sides been made to yield abundant har- 
vests: through their influence the whole land has 
been cultivated and every acre rendered productive; 
by their aid towns and villages have sprung up, and 
thrived; and farm houses, neat and beautiful, beto- 
kening quiet, ease and happiness, are spread on 
every hill and in every vale. By them New Eng- 
land has become the leader in every good work; 
has been able to send her emigrants throughout the 
country, to exert a high moral influence in improv- 
ing its character; the wisest of statesmen and the 
most powerful orators into the congress of the na- 
tion. Through the influence of these she has 
brought forward a population, famed wherever they 
are known as a body, for their industry, virtue and 
intelligence. Let them then be multiplied a hun- 
dred fold, — 

Through all her wild, green mountains; 

From valleys where her sliunbering fathers lie, 
From her blue rivers and her swelling fountains. 
And clear, cold sky; 

From her rough coast and isles, where hungiy ocean 

Groans with his surges — from the fisher's skiff, 
With white sail swaying to the billow's motion 
Round rock and cliff. 

Mr. Draper, like almost every other man of worth, 
was an early riser. Happy the man who is. Every 
morning, day comes to him with a virgin's love, 
full of bloom and purity and freshness. The youth 
of nature is contagious like the gladness of a hap- 
py child. 

He lived respected by all who knew him, and 
when he died his townsmen came up in a body to 
his funeral — a spontaneous offering of their respect 
and love to the virtues and memory of the deceased. 

Mr. Draper has left behind him a good name, and 
numerous descendants. One of his sons was ap- 
pointed consul at Paris, by General Harrison. An- 
other of his sons, Mr. Simeon Draper, Jr., is one of 
the first merchants in New York city. Although 



SIMEON DRAPER, SEN. 297 

the deceased moved, while living, in a compara- 
tively narrow sphere of action, yet he was of that 
noble class of men to whom New England owes her 
character for integrity, intelligence, industry, mo- 
rality and religion. 

His career was a beautiful illustration of the re- 
mark, that the secret of success in any pursuit, is 
in that unconquerable perseverance that is roused 
to greater efforts from the magnitude of the resist- 
ance ; and overcomes, by assiduous pertinacity, that 
which can not be subdued by a single effort. In 
our country, where a thousand paths lie open in 
which fame and wealth may be obtained, we are in 
danger of forgetting, that after all, life may be fret- 
ted away in futile attempts and ill-conceived 
enterprises. Singleness of purpose and ardor of 
application are necessary to the complete success 
of any cause ; and neither talent nor genius can win 
its proper meed unless guided and controlled by 
them. In language which it may not be irreverent 
here to quote, the race is not always to the swift 
nor the battle to the strong ; but the powerful mind, 
endowed with the mightiest gifts of its Creator, if 
it turns aside to pluck flowers by the way, or seek 
a path of less sinuous direction and smoother 
surface, may, like Atalanta, be surpassed by the 
regular, though slower advances of diligent competi- 
tors. In the fierce conflict of life we have no time 
to lose in returning for a new start; and if our path 
is crowded with dangers and difhculties, we must 
overcome them by the indomitable sway of a deter- 
mined will. 



38 



298 JONATHAN PLATT. 




JONATHAN PLATT. 

'HO are the lower classes? The toiling 
millions, the laboring man and woman, 
the farmer, the mechanic, the artisan, the 
inventor, the producer? Far from it. These 
are nature's nobility. No matter whether they 
are high or low in station, rich or poor in pelf, con- 
spicuous or humble in position, they are surely the 
" upper circles in the order of nature," whatever 
the fictitious distinction of society, fashionable or 
unfashionable, decree. It is not loio, it is the high- 
est duty, privilege or pleasure, for the great man 
and whole-souled women to earn what they possess, 
to work their own way through life, to be the arch- 
itects of their own fortunes. Some may rank the 
classes we have alluded to as only relatively low, 
and, in fact, the middling classes. We insist they 
are absolutely the very highest. If there be a class 
of human beings on earth who may be properly 
denominated low, it is that class who spend without 
earning, who consume without producing, who 
dissipate on the earnings of their fathers or relatives 
without being any thing in and of themselves. 

The highly respected individual, the subject of 
this notice, was born at Bedford, Westchester county, 
New York, on the 1 3th of October, 1783. 

In the year 1793 his father's family emigrated to 
the then " far west," and settled upon the Susque- 
hanna river, in the present town of Nichols, and 
county of Tioga, the whole region being then a 
wilderness. 

Jonathan was the oldest member of the family, 
and was subject to many of the trials and hardships 
incident to new settlements, which was probably 
the means of invigorating him for the toils and 
hardships of subsequent life. His early years hav- 



JACOB COLLAMER. 299 

ing- been employed in clearing the land, at the age 
of twenty-three he commenced a clerkship in a 
store at Owego, New York. A few years afterwards 
he engaged in the mercantile business in the same 
place. This occupation he pursued for many years, 
connecting with it trade in lumber and plaster on 
the Susquehanna river. 

Mr. Piatt was one of the first directors of the 
Owego bank, and was afterwards president of that 
institution. This office he held until two or three 
years ago,whenhe disposed of his stock, and retired 
from the concerns of the bank to a most delightful 
residence in the vicinity of the village, where he is 
now, in the enjoyment of a happy competence and 
justly respected, passing the evening of his life. 

Brought up among the stern features of the wild- 
erness, and from his earliest days having been in- 
ured to toil, Mr. Piatt never enjoyed the advantages 
of what is called a liberal education. But he pos- 
sesses that which in the career of life is of far more 
importance, namely, common sense and an enlight 
ened public spirit, being also in the full sense of the 
word an " honest man." 



< • « » » 



JACOB COLLAMEH. 

HE subject of this sketch had none of the 
early advantages which parents, mistake- 
enly perhaps, are usually so solicitous to 
secure for their children, and owes nothing to 
adventitious circumstances of birth or fortune ; 
though, if ancestral virtue is a just cause of 
pride, there are few who can boast a nobler escutch- 
eon, for his 'propositus was one of the old Puritan 
stock, who preferred religious liberty in the wilder- 
ness to enforced conformity in a palace. Judge 




300 JACOB COLLAMER. 

CoUamer was bom at Troy, New York, and is a son 
of Samuel CoUamer, a native of Scituate, in Mas- 
sachusetts, and a soldier of the revolution. In his 
childhood he removed with his father's family to 
Burlington, Vermont, and was graduated at the 
university, then at an early age, in 1810. He im- 
mediately commenced the study of the law, made 
the frontier campaign of 1812 as a lieutenant of 
artillery in the detached militia in the service of 
the United States, and was admitted to the bar in 
1813, having accomplished his course of preparatory, 
collegiate and professional study, without any other 
pecuniary means than such as his own industry 
supplied him. From the time of his admission to 
the bar until the year 1833, he practised his profes- 
sion in the counties of Orange and Windsor with 
marked ability and success, under all the disadvan- 
tages of a competition with the eminent counsel 
by which the bar of those counties was then dis- 
tinguished. In the last named year (having in the 
meantime been often an active and influential 
member of the legislature of Vermont) he was, 
without solicitation or expectation on his part, 
elected an associate justice of the supreme court, 
and was continued upon the bench, discharging his 
judicial duties with much credit, and to the general 
satisfaction of the profession, until the year 1842, 
when he declined a reelection. In 1843, he was 
elected to represent the second congressional dis- 
trict of Vermont in the congress of the United 
States, was reelected in 1844 and 1846, and in 1848, 
much to the regret of his constituents, upon whom 
the eminent ability of his congressional career had 
reflected so great credit, he declined to be again a 
candidate. 

In March, 1849, he was nominated by President 
Taylor as postmaster-general, which office he now 
holds. 



CHARLES MARSH. 301 

As his parents were poor, he found it extremely 
difficult to raise funds to pay his expenses at college. 
He was reproved by the president one day for ap- 
pearing in the recitation room without shoes. He 
procured a pair, and for the sake of economy carried 
them to the door of the recitation room, and then 
put them on. Such were some of the difficulties 
in the way of education thirty-five years ago. 



■^■■^ ♦ ■» » 




CHARLES MARSH. 

•E was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, the 
10th of July, 1765, but removed with his 

father's family to Vermont, before the com- 

^^ mencement of the revolutionary war. His 
:^/^ father. Honorable Joseph Marsh, was one of the 
leading whig gentlemen of Vermont during that 
struggle, and was for several years lieutenant go- 
vernor of the state. Charles Marsh was graduated 
at Dartmouth college, in 1786, and studied the law 
under the venerable Judge Reeve, of Connecticut, 
and commenced the practice of his profession at 
Woodstock, Vt., in 1788. He was an active, studi- 
ous, and successful lawyer for the full period of fifty 
years, and, during a large part of that time, it may 
justly be said, he was regarded as standing at the 
head of the bar in the state. It is not, however, so 
much to his professional position we desire to direct 
attention, but to the position he has long occupied 
as a distinguished patron of all the great benevolent 
enterprises of the day, and the liberality of his be- 
nefactions to those objects. The board of commis- 
sioners for foreign missions, the American Bible so- 
ciety, the American Colonization society have long 
known him as among their most efficient, devoted, 
and liberal members; and these and kindred asso- 



302 CHARLES MARSH. 

ciations commanded his prayers and support during 
his life. 

Rmming parallel to this was his devotion to the 
cause and progress of liberal science. He was a 
member of the board of trustees of Dartmouth 
college for forty years, and therein was particularly 
efficient and influential in the memorable contro- 
versy of that institution with the legislature of New 
Hampshire, and in which the independence and in- 
tegrity of the college was ably and successfully vin- 
dicated, to the permanent good of sound learning 
in the land. 

Mr. Marsh was ever disinclined to holding any 
official position, but his association Avith those men 
of high public character in New England, who link 
the revolutionary epoch with the present generation, 
was intimate and influential, and his memory is 
identified with theirs. He was induced to serve 
one term in congress, and, while there, he was as- 
sociated with Judge Marshall and Washington, 
with Henry Clay, and others, in the first formation 
of the American Colonization society. 

Mr. Marsh was appointed district attorney of Ver- 
mont by General Washington, and held that office 
until the accession of Jefferson. 

In his social and Christian relations in private 
life, few men have commanded so large a share of 
attachment and respect, or exercised power, influ- 
ence, or example to more who! some effect. His 
house was ever the home of the most generous 
hospitality. Having lived the life of a Christian, 
gentleman, philanthropist, and patriot, worthy of 
the good puritan stock from which he sprung, and 
having filled as well the measure of his usefulness 
as of his days, he is now gathered to his fathers "in 
a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its 
season." 

He died at Woodstock, Vermont, on the 11th of 
January, 1849, aged eighty- three years. 



CHARLES MARSH. 303 

In reviewing the life of this great and good man, 
we are forcibly struck with the truth of the follow- 
ing elegant remark by Webster: 

" Political eminence and professional fame, fade 
away and die with all things earthly. Nothing of 
character is really permanent, but virtue and per- 
sonal worth. They remain. Whatever of excellence 
is wrought into the soul itself, belongs to both 
worlds. Real goodness does not attach itself merely 
to this life, it points to another world. Political or 
professional fame can not last forever, but a con- 
science void of offence before God and man, is an 
inheritance for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a 
necessary, an indispensable element in any great 
human character. There is no living without it. 
Religion is the tie that connects man with his Crea- 
tor, and holds him to his throne. If that tie be all 
sundered, all broken, he floats away, a worthless 
atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, 
its destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing 
bat darkness, desolation and death. A man with 
no sense of religious duty is he whom the scriptures 
describe' — in such terse, but terrific manner — as 
"living without God in the world." Such a man 
is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all 
his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness, and 
away, far, far away from the purposes of his crea- 
tion." 

The widow of Mr. Marsh and four of his seven 
children survive him. Among them is the greatly 
respected Hon. George P. Marsh, representative to 
congress from Vermont. 




304 PATRICK W. TOMPKINS. 



PATRICK W. TOMPKINS. 

BOUT forty years ago, somewhere in 
the woods near the line between Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky, in a log cabin 
sixteen feet by eighteen, which was 
already occupied by a brood of ten or 
twelve children, was born a youngster, the 
hero of our sketch. In his infancy, he was 
fed on hog and hominy, and the flesh of such 
*'wild varmints" as were caught in the woods. At 
twelve years of age, he was put out to work with a 
neighbor as a farm boy, and drove oxen, hoed corn, ^ 
raised tobacco in summer, cured it and prized it in 
winter, till he was seventeen years old, when he 
took to making brick; to which he added the pro- 
fession of a carpenter; and by these successive steps 
in mechanical arts, he became able, by his own 
unassisted skill, to rear a house from the clay pit or 
from the stump, and complete it in all its parts, and 
to do it, too, in a manner that none of his competi- 
tors could surpass. His panel doors are to this day 
the wonder and admiration of all the country, in 
which they continue to swing on their hinges. He 
never saw the inside of a school-house or church 
till after he was eighteen years old. By the assist- 
ance of an old man in the neighborhood, he learned, 
during the winter evenings, to read and write, while 
a farm boy. Having achieved these valuable ac- 
quisitions by the aid of another, all his other educa- 
tion has been the fruit of his own application and 
perseverance. At the age of twenty-one, he con- 
ceived the idea of fitting himself for the practice of 
the law. He at first procured an old copy of Black- 
stone, and having, after the close of his daily labors, 
by nightly studies in his log cabin, mastered the 
contents of that compendium of common law, he 



ULYSSES WARD. 305 

pursued his researches into other elementary works. 
And having thus, by great diligence, acquired the 
rudiments of his profession, he met with an old 
lawyer who had quit practice, or whose practice 
had quit him, with whom he made a bargain for 
his scanty library, for which he was to pay him 
$129 in carpenter's work; and the chief part of the 
job to be done in payment for these old musty 
books, was dressing and laying down an old oaken 
floor and doors, at $3 per square of ten feet. The 
library paid for, our hero dropped the adze, plane 
and trowel, and we soon after hear of him as 
one of the most prominent members of the Mis- 
sissippi bar, and a noble statesman and orator. 
" I heard him one day," says one, " make two 
speeches in succession, of three hours in length 
each, to the same audience ; and pot a movement 
testified any weariness on the part of a single audi- 
tor, and during their delivery the assembly seemed 
swayed by the orator as reeds by the wind." 

.The poor farm boy is at the present time a 
member of congress, from Mississippi. His name 
is Patrick W. Tompkins. He is a self-made man, 
and his history shows what a humble boy can do, 
when he determines to try. 



ULYSSES WARD. 

MORE worthy man than Mr. Ward is sel- 
dom found. He was born in Montgomery 
county, in the state of Maryland, on the 
third day of April, 1792. His parents were 
natives of London, England, from which place 
they removed to this country about the year 
1770. 

39 




306 ULYSSES WARD. 

Although deprived of the usual advantages for 
obtaining a liberal education, even in the elementary 
branches — having had but five months' schooling 
altogether — Mr. Ward was early impressed with the 
necessity and importance of acquiring such know- 
ledge as would qualify him for usefulness in society ; 
and therefore earnestly applied himself in endea- 
voring to derive, so far as possible, from experience 
and observation, that information which the more 
highly favored in point of privileges, gained from 
books. Sensible, as he ever was, of the peculiar 
embarrassment caused by the recollection of his 
destitution of early scholastic training, he did not 
suffer it to discourage him; on the contrary, this 
reflection seemed to increase his ardor, and to in- 
duce him to use the more diligently those talents 
which his Creator had bestowed upon him. " Out- 
ward matter or event fashioneth not the character 
within, but each man, yielding, or resisting, fash- 
ioneth his mind for himself." Thus, by perseve- 
rance and industry, the difficulties which surround- 
ed Mr. Ward were to a considerable extent over- 
come ; and when his boyhood had passed, he was 
tolerably well prepared for the duties subsequently 
devolving upon him. 

At the age of nineteen, he entered upon his ap- 
prenticeship with a bricklayer of Georgetown, D. C, 
and at the expiration of his twenty-second year, 
having served his master faithfully, and attained 
remarkable proficiency in his business, he went forth 
inspired with the noble and delightful consciousness 
that, if blessed with continued health and strength, 
he would not only be able to procure a livelihood 
for himself, but also to acquire the means of in- 
creased usefulness in the world. He had not learn- 
ed to regard labor as dishonorable, but rather to 
look upon it as the ladder by which he must rise. 
Nor was he disappointed. Deprived as he had been 
of school advantages, a good trade — valuable to 



ULYSSES WARD. 307 

every young man — was doubly so to him; and by 
steadily following it, he very soon found resources 
for supplying himself with books and other facili- 
ties for learning, which he could not obtain when a 
boy. These new opportunities he improved assidu- 
ously, and in a few years became a good English 
scholar. How striking an example of one of his 
own favorite maxims — "Perseverance will remove 
mountains!" 

A few months before he completed his term of 
service as an apprentice, Mr. Ward was seriously 
impressed with a sense of his accountability to Him 
"in whom we live, and move, and have our being," 
and felt his obligations particularly in view of the 
kind care and superintending providence which had 
been over him and conducted him so safely along 
"the slippery paths" of his youth. Often has he 
been heard to repeat with much emotion those beau- 
tiful lines of Addison, so expressive of gratitude to 
the Supreme Being: 

" WJien all thy mercies, O my God, 

My rising soul surveys, 
Transported witii the view, I'm lost 

In wonder, love and praise !" 

Cherishing his religious impressions, he at length 
resolved to devote the remnant of his days to the 
service of his heavenly Father; and accordingly, 
after carefully examining and cordially embracing 
the Christian faith, he united with the Protestant 
Episcopal church, in whose communion he remain- 
ed about six years. 

Mr. Ward was married on the twenty-sixth day 
of September, 1816, to Miss Susan Valinda Beall, 
daughter of James Beall, Esq., of Prince George's 
county, Md., and with her he has lived in perfect 
peace and comfort for nearly thirty-three years. The 
children of these parents are seven in number, and 
six of them are now living. The eldest daughter is 
now the wife of Dr. Thomas Feinour, of Baltimore, 



308 ULYSSES WARD. 

Md. The eldest son, Rev. James Thomas "Ward, 
entered the sacred office of the ministry in the nine- 
teenth year of his age, and after serving several con- 
gregations in Maryland and Virginia, for about six 
years, was invited to take charge of the First Meth- 
odist Protestant church, Philadelphia, formerly 
served by Rev. T. H. Stockton. He accepted the 
invitation, and was regularly appointed to the said 
church, of which he has now been pastor nearly 
two years. The second daughter of Mr. Ward is 
the wife of Rev. Samuel Norment, of Virginia, now 
residing in Washington. The other children are 
yet in their minority. 

In 1820, Mr. Ward united with the Methodist 
Church, and has remained in that connection to the 
present time. He was licensed to preach the gos- 
pel in 1824, ordained deacon in 1828, and elder in 
1832. As a preacher, his style is plain, his manner 
earnest and afiectionate, and he is generally well 
received by his congregations, and has done much 
good in the pulpit. We doubt not that there are 
hundreds now living, besides many whose spirits 
have departed from earth, who could bear testimony 
to the religious benefit they had derived through 
his humble, but sincere, impressive and useful dis- 
courses, and other labors connected with his minis- 
terial calling. 

While prosecuting his trade, during many years, 
and on a very extensive scale, and having a large 
nu.mber of workmen in his employ, Mr. Ward first 
exhibited his decided favor for the temperance 
cause, by rigidly excluding the use of all intoxicat- 
ing liquors as a beverage from his buildings. No 
one, therefore, who "loved his cups" could find any 
countenance under Mr. Ward's employ; and it is 
believed that, operating extensively as he was, his 
example had a salutary influence not only upon in- 
dividuals, but also upon the community ; for, at that 
time, his course was a singular one, it being looked 



ULYSSES WARD. 309 

upon. as a small matter to "take a glass or so, now 
and then." But Mr. Ward was convinced of the 
propriety of his action in this respect, and he fear- 
lessly proceeded, and steadily continued his prohi- 
bition of ardent spirits, so long as he remained in 
business. 

In 1830, he became a public temperance speaker, 
and advocated the total abstinence principle, by 
presenting able arguments in its favor, and striking 
facts to illustrate those arguments. Perceiving with 
painful emotions the fearful desolation caused, as 
he believed, to a considerable extent, by the use of 
ardent spirits as a beverage, among residents and 
visiters of the metropolis of our Union, and feeling 
the importance of a decided concert of action upon 
the part of the friends of the temperance cause in a 
city whence a most powerful influence must go 
forth to all portions of the country, he exerted him- 
self strenuously in cooperation with said friends, in 
endeavoring to arrest and check the growing evil. 
During this period, there was a "waking up" upon 
this subject all over the land, and we know what 
was accomplished. A reformation, which will be 
remembered and felt for centuries, took place ; one, 
which, though not even yet entirely completed, is 
destined to go on, and on, 

" Until the drunkard's voice is heard 
O'er this wide earth no moi'e." 

In 1845, Mr. Ward established at the seat of gov- 
ernment, a periodical newspaper, called the Co- 
lumbian Fountain, which he continued to publish 
and to edit, assisted a part of the time by his eldest 
son. Rev. J. T. Ward, for nearly two years. In the 
columns of this journal he fearlessly and boldly, 
though calmly and respectfully, exposed the evils 
growing out of the manufacture, traffic and use of 
intoxicating beverages. He enjoyed the hearty ap- 
proval of the friends of the cause throughout the 
Union, and had the pleasure of receiving numerous 



310 ' ULYSSES WARD. 

testimonials of the usefulness of his paper. It was 
tliroLigh his instrumentality, while conducting this 
journal, that the establishments for the sale of ardent 
spirits in the basement of the United States Capitol 
were prohibited from continuing the traffic there. 

Mr. Ward's remarkable industry, his steady ap- 
plication to business, his unswerving integrity of 
purpose, and prompt performance of duty, together 
with his indomitable perseverance and energy of 
character, have been generally observed by those 
who know him ; and Providence has not only bless- 
ed him in the respects already named, but also re- 
warded his diligence with success, in accumulating 
an ample competency for his own support, besides 
placing it in his power, during the course of his life, 
to render aid to almost every religious and benevo- 
lent enterprise around him. The exact amount of 
his contributions to various Christian churches, and 
to the cause of humanity and common purposes of 
benevolence, is unknown to us, but we have know- 
ledge of thousands of dollars which he has freely 
given, while we are assured of his continued wil- 
lingness thus to bestow according to his ability, so 
long as he lives. 

Being a self-made man, Mr. Ward has ever been 
the firm friend of the honest youth, struggling to 
rise by industry and perseverance; and not a few 
are they who have been the recipients of his liber- 
ality, in this, and in other respects. Too much can 
not be said in favor of one who has thus come up, 
by his own exertions under God's blessing — come 
up to an enviable position — a position of true great- 
ness — an eminence upon which he stands and scat- 
ters blessings to aid those who are starting up from 
the same vale, to reach, by the same steps, the same 
honorable height! 

" Honor and shame from no condition rise ; 
Act well thy part, there all the honor lies !" 

Never was there a man in whose history this 



ALFRED B. STREET. 311 

couplet was more happily illustrated, than in that 
of the Rev. Ulysses Ward, of Washington city. 
Long may he be preserved to honor and bless his 
race. 



< ♦ > » » 




(\ 



ALFRED B. STREET. 

OETRY, what is it? A smile, a tear, a 
glory, a longing after the things of eter- 
nity ! It lives in created existence, in man 
and every object that surrounds him. There is 
poetry in the gentle influence of love and affec- 
tion, in the quiet brooding of the soul over the 
memory of early years, and in the thoughts of that 
glory that chains our spirits to the gates of paradise. 
There is poetry, too in the harmonies of nature. It 
glitters in the wave, the rainbow, the lightning and 
star; its cadence is heard in the thunder and the 
cataract ; its softer tones go sweetly up from the 
thousand-voiced harp of the wind, the rivulet, and 
forest, and the cloud and sky go floating over us, to 
the music of its melodies. There's not a moon- 
light ray, that comes down upon the stream or hill ; 
not a breeze falling from its blue air, thrown to the 
birds of the summer valleys, or sounding through 
the midnight rains its mournful dirge over the 
perishing flowers of spring; not a cloud bathing 
itself like an angel vision in the rose bushes of au- 
tumn twilight; nor a rock glowing in the starlight, 
as if dreaming of the Eden-land — but is full of the 
beautiful influence of poetry. It is the soul of be- 
ing. The earth and heaven are quickened by its 
spirit, and the great deep, in tempest and in calm, 
are its accent and mysterious workings." 

The life of a poet is in his works. However his 
days may glide on, whether peacefully or checkered 



312 ALFRED B. STREET. 

by adventures, he lives more in the ideal world 
which he has created for himself, than in that 
actual world which is about us all. It is difficult, 
therefore, to show him as we would wish, before 
that public into whose ear, as into a confessional, 
he has been accustomed to pour his noblest thoughts. 
In this case, too, we are attempting to sketch one 
who has hardly yet reached the maturity of his 
years, and whose writings are, we trust, but the 
first fruits of a still more abundant harvest. 

Alfred B. Street is descended from one of the 
oldest and most respectable families in the state of 
Connecticut — one which has held its place for more 
than two hundred years, and enrolled among its 
members learned scholars and eminent divines. It 
sprang from an ancient English family, one member 
of which. Sir Thomas Street, in 1681, was a baron 
of the exchequer and justice of the common pleas, 
while some of the name are still found in the church 
and army in the parent country. In Sussex there 
is still in existence an old grey ivy-clad edifice, cal- 
led Street Church, mentioned in the Domesday 
Survey, and a rectory of Street, in the diocese of 
Chichester and archdeaconry of Lewes. 

The first ancestor of the family in this country 
was the Rev. Nicholas Street, who was settled at 
Taunton, in the colony of Plymouth, about the year 
1638, and subsequently became the pastor of the 
first church in New Haven. He was a good theo- 
logical writer and noted for his piety, learning and 
eloquence. His son, the Uev. Samuel Street, after 
graduating at Harvard college, organized a church 
at Wallingford and became its pastor. His early 
ministry was cast in those wild and picturesque 
times when the tomahawk of the savage was ever 
threatening. Consequently the male portion of his 
people — half settler, half soldier — listened to his 
preaching in the little fortified church, with loaded 
muskets at their backs, and at the breaking out of 



ALFRED B. STREET. 313 

King Philip's war in 1675, his house was also forti- 
fied. He continued pastor of this church forty-two 
years, and until his death, which happened in 1717. 

The Hon. Randall S. Street, father of the subject 
of our notice, was the lineal descendant of these 
two eminent clergymen. He removed with his 
father, in early life, into the state of New York, and 
his branch of the family has continued to reside 
there ever since, but the other branch continued in 
Connecticut, and is still represented by Augustus 
Russell Street, Esq., who resides at New Haven. 

Randall S. Street studied law at Poughkeepsie, 
married Miss Cornelia Billings, and settled there 
for the next thirty years of his life. Such was his 
standing at the bar, that while still young, he was 
appointed district attorney of the district composed 
of the counties of Wayne, Ulster, Dutchess, Dela- 
ware and Sullivan, under the old organization of 
districts, and subsequently he represented the county 
of Dutchess in congress. He was an eminent lawyer 
and accomplished gentleman, and among the recol- 
lections of the writer of this sketch, is one of a day 
spent more than thirty years ago at the residence 
of Gen. Street, when it was the home of hospitality 
and elegance. In 182 4 Gen. Street removed to 
Monticello, Sullivan county, N. Y., where he died in 
1839. 

The maternal grandfather of our author was Major 
Andrew Billings, who married Cornelia, daughter 
of James Livingston, of the well known family of 
that name in New York. Coriielia, the daughter 
by this marriage, who became the wife of Gen. 
Street, was the mother of the poet. 

He was born in the village of Poughkeepsie, and 
received an academical education at the Dutchess 
county academy, which stood in the front rank of 
kindred institutions. Poughkeepsie is well known 
as one of the most beautiful villages in the state. 
Situated on the side and summit of a slope that 

40 



314 ALFRED B. STREET. 

swells up from the Hudson river, from College hill * 
there is a prospect of almost matchless beauty. A 
scene of rural and sylvan loveliness expands from 
every point at its base — the roofs and steeples of the 
busy village rise from the foliage in which it seems 
embosomed — the river stretches league upon league 
with its gleaming curves beyond — to the west is a 
range of splendid mountains ending at the south in 
the misty peaks of the highlands — whilst at the 
north, dim outlines sketched upon the distant sky, 
proclaim the domes of the soaring Catskills. It 
was among these scenes that our author passed his 
childish days — here his young eye first drank in the 
glories of nature, and " the foundations of his mind 
were laid." 

When, however, at the age of fourteen he removed 
with his family to Monticello, he was immediately 
surrounded with scenes in striking contrast with 
those of his former life. Sullivan county had been 
organized but a score of years, and was hardly yet 
rescued from the wilderness. Monticello, its county 
town, was surrounded by fields which only a short 
time before were parts of the wild forest which still 
hemmed them in on every side. These forests were 
threaded with bright streams and scattered with 
broad lakes, while here and there the untiring axe 
of the settler during the last quarter of a century, 
had been opening the way for the industry and 
enterprise of man. Secluded as Sullivan county is 
in the south-westernmost nook of the state, it would 
be difficult to find within its bounds another region 
of such sylvan beauty and wild grandeur. The eye 
is filled with images that make them an enduring 
place in the mind, storing it with rich and unfading 
pictures, and among these scenes, as niight be sup- 
posed, Mr. Street ranged with a ceaseless delight, 
probably heightened by the strong contrast before 
mentioned, between their startling picturesqueness 
and the soft quiet beauty of those of Dutchess. In- 



ALFRED B. STREET. 315 

stead of the smooth meadowy ascent, he saw the 
broken hill-side blackened with fire, or just grow- 
ing green with its first crop; instead of the yellow 
cornfield stretching far as the eye could see, he 
beheld the clearing spotted with stumps, with the 
thin rye growing between; instead of the comforta- 
ble farm-house peeping from its orchards, he saw the 
log-cabin stooping amid the half-cleared trees; 
the dark ravine took the place of the mossy dell, 
and the wild lake of the sail-spotted and far-stretch- 
ing river. 

Thus communing with nature, Mr. Street em- 
bodied the impressions made upon him in language, 
and in that form most appropriate in giving vent to 
deep enthusiastic feeling and high thought — the 
form of verse. Poem after poem was written by 
him, and being published in those best vehicles of 
communication with the public, the periodical soon 
attracted general attention. Secluded from man- 
kind, and surrounded with nature in her most im- 
pressive features, liis thought took the direction of 
that of which he saw most, and thus description 
became the characteristic of his verse. Equally cut 
off" from books, his poetry found its origin in his own 
study of nature scenes, and in the thoughts that rose 
in his own bosom. The leaves and flowers were 
his words — the fields and hills side were his pages — 
and the whole volume of nature, his treasury of 
knowledge. This, while it may have made him 
less artistic, was the means of that originality and 
iinlikeness to any one else which are to be found in 
his pages. 

But while thus employing his leisure in tracing 
his thoughts in language, Mr. Street was engaged 
in studying his profession of law in the office of his 
father, and in due time was admitted to the bar. 
After practicing for a few years at Monticello, in 
1839, he removed to Albany, where he has continued 
to reside until the present time. In 1841, Mr. Street 



316 ALFRED B. STREET. 

married, Elizabeth, daughter of Smith Weed, Esq., 
a retired merchant of fortune and great respectability 
of character. 

We have spoken of the general characteristics of 
Mr. Street's poetry, or ratiier of the pecuHar mental 
trainini^r he received, and which orave a direction to 
his imagination. And beautifully has a writer"^ in 
the Democratic Review summed up this view we 
have given: "Street is a true Flemish painter, 
seizing upon objects in all their veri-similitude. As 
we read him, wild flowers peer up from among 
brown leaves; the drum of the partridge, the ripple 
of waters, the flickering of autumn light, the sting 
of sleety snow, the cry of the panther, the roar of 
the winds, the melody of birds, and the odor of 
crushed pine boughs, are present to our senses. In 
a foreign land, his poems would transport us at once 
to home. He is no second hand limner, content to 
furnish insipid copies, but draws from reality. His 
pictures have the freshness of originals. They are 
graphic, detailed, never untrue, and often vigorous; 
he is essentially an American poet." 

A writer in the American Review remarks thus 
of his poetry: "Therythrn in general runs with 
an equable and easy strength; the more worthy of 
regard because so evidently inartificial; and there 
is often in the frequent minute pictures of nature a 
heedless but delicate movement of the measure, a 
lintJ-ering of expression corresponding with some 
dreamy abandonment of thought to the objects 
dwelt upon, or a rippling lapse of language where 
the author's mind seemed conscious of playing 
with them — caught as it were from the flitting of 
birds among leaty boughs, from the subtle wander- 
ings of the bee, and the quiet brawling of woodland 
brooks over leaves and pebbles. In the use of lan- 
guage, more especially in verse, Mr. Street is sim- 
ple yet rich and usually very felicitous. This is pe- 

* Henry T. Tukeman. 



ALFRED B. STREET. 317 

culiarly the case in his choice of appellatives which 
he selects and applies with an aptness of descrip- 
tive beauty not surpassed, if equalled, by any poet 
amongst us — certainly by none except Bryant." 

"Besides his observation, keen as the Indian 
hunter's, of all nature's slight and simple effects in 
quiet places, Mr. Street has a most gentle and con- 
templative eye for the changes which she silently 
throws ever the traces where the men have once 
been. For instance, The Old Bridge and The 
Forsaken Road. When he comes to the quiet 
scenes in America which he has seen and felt 
he has passages which in their way, Cowper, Thom- 
son, Wordsworth, or Bryant, never excelled." 

And in England his claims as a poet have been 
fully recognized. We find his poem of The Lost 
Hunter, finely ilkistrated in a recent London peri- 
odical, and the Foreign Quarterly Review speaks of 
him as "a descriptive poet at the head of his class." 
It remarks that " his pictures of American scenery 
are full of gusto and freshness." The Westminister 
Review, in noticing the collection of his poems by 
Clark & Austin, says: "It is long since we met 
with a volume of poetry from which we have de- 
rived so much unmixed pleasure as from the col- 
lection now before us. Right eloquently does he 
discourse of nature, her changeful features and her 
varied moods, as exhibited in "America with her 
rich green forest robe," and many are the glowino- 
pictures we would gladly transfer to our pages, in 
proof of the poet's assertion that "nature is man's 
best teacher." 

Besides the numerous pieces published by Mr. 
Street in different periodicals, he delivered three 
very able poems before the Englossian society of 
Geneva, and the Phi Beta Kappa and Philomathean 
societies of Union college, from which latter insti- 
tution in 1841 he received the honorary degree of 
A. M. A complete and beautiful edition of his po- 



318 KENSEY JOHNS. 

ems, in a large octavo volume of more than three 
hundred pages, was published two years since by- 
Messrs. Clark & Austin, of New York, and has 
already passed through several editions. 

We are writing of one, however, who we feel has 
only commenced his career. His last publication, 
Frontenac, a Tale of the Iroquois in 1696, has 
recently been issued in London ; and we have no 
hesitation in asserting that it will stand at the head 
of American poems. It is no small evidence of 
Mr. Street's reputation in England, that the distin- 
guished London publisher, Mr. Bentley, to whom 
this poem was casually mentioned, at once entered 
into an arrangement with the author to have it 
brought out by his house. Its descriptions of natu- 
ral scenery^ — so bright and vivid — and its sketches 
of life in the forest and the Indian village, will be 
something most novel to the reading public abroad. 
There is a delightful freshness about it which can 
not fail to charm the readers of the old world. 



KENSEY JOHNS. 

Behold tlie western evening,' light, 

It melts ill deepening gloom! 
So calmly Christians sink away, 

Descending to the tomh. 

The winds breathe low — the withering leaf 

Scarce whispers from the tree! 
So gently flows tlie parting breath 

When good men cease to be. 

HE death of the late distinguished and 
venerable Kenscy Johns, Sen., of Delaware, 
,,^^ at the patriarchal age of ninety, although, 
!l^ from his intirmities, a long expected event, has 
^^ caused regret among a large circle of friends in 
^ Philadelphia, as well as in the state which he 
had served, in the highest judicial capacities, during 




KENSEY JOHNS. 319 

the greater period of his protracted and useful life. 
For a long time chief-justice, and afterwards chan- 
cellor, of Delaware, he was distinguished as much 
for official integrity and ability as for the purity and 
blamelessness of his private career. A relic of the 
first and best days of the republic, he could claim 
the glory of revolutionary recollections, and what 
is better, of revolutionary services. 

At the early uge of eighteen, he was a minute- 
man at Annapolis, in Maryland, and, as we have 
often heard him describe the scene, beheld, one 
morning in August, 1777, from his watch on the 
bay shore, the sad though magnificent spectacle of 
Howe's fleet passing up the Chesapeake, to land at 
Elk river and march, through the gore of Brandy- 
wine and Paoli, to the capture of Philadelphia. 
Four years later, in September, 1781, he saw at the 
little village of Newport, on the Christiana river, 
the march of the united American and French 
armies, commanded by Washington and Eocham- 
beau in person, through Delaware, on their way to 
Yorktown; and, some six or seven weeks later he 
had the satisfaction to assist the hasty progress of 
the messenger bearing to congress the glorious news 
of the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis. 

He was the last of the members of the Delaware 
convention which appointed delegates to adopt the 
present constitution of the United States; and also 
the last survivor of the convention that formed the 
first constitution of the state of Delaware."^ 

Apart from his own high merits, the venerable 
deceased Avas entitled to claim honor from the dis- 
tinction of various connections and members of his 
family. Of his three living sons, all are eminent 
men; the eldest being the present chancellor of 
Delaware; the second, the assistant bishop of Vir- 
ginia; the third, the Rev. Dr. Johns, of Baltimore. 

* Delaware was the first state to adopt ^nd ratify the present constitu- 
tion of the United States. 



320 KENSEY JOHNS. 

He was a brother-in-law of Nicholas Van Dyke, so 
long known and highly respected, as a senator in 
congress from Delaware; and it is hnt a few fleet- 
ing years since his son-in-law, Major Thomas Stock- 
ton, died, while filling the oflice of governor of the 
same state. 

It is not often that so much solid worth and real 
distinction go down to the grave united in the same 
person. It is because Mr. Johns chose to avoid 
political distinctions, living a pubHc life solely 
within, and as a servant of, the state of Delaware, 
in preference to entering the service of the republic, 
that his death is not at once felt as a loss to the 
whole country. There are thousands, however, who 
recognize it as the departure of one of the country's 
best and purest citizens. 

In contemplating the useful life of the departed 
patriot, we can not but contrast it with that of those 
who pass off the stage of life and are heard of no 
more. Why? They did not a particle of good in 
the world ; none were blest by them; none could 
point to them as the instruments of their redemp- 
tion; not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke 
could be recalled; and so they perished, their light 
went out in darkness, and they were not remem- 
bered more than the insect of yesterday. Will you 
thus live and die, O man immortal? Live for some- 
thing. Do good and leave behind you a monument 
of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. 
Write your name in kindness, love and mercy, on 
the hearts of the thousands you come in contact 
with year by year, and you Avill never be forgotten. 
No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on 
the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the 
brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as brightly 
on eartli as the stars in Heaven. 

The deceased departed this life at his residence, 
New Castle, Delaware, on the 21st of December, 
1848. 



GEORGE N. BRIGGS. 







.^-^^ ^/^z^^^^ 




OW governor of the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, was born in the town of Ad- 
ams, in the county of Berkshire, on the 12th 
April, 1796. His father was a blacksmith, 
who reared his family by the hard labor of his 
41 



322 GEORGE N. BRIGGS. 

hands. When George was seven years old, his 
father removed from Adams to Manchester, in the 
state of Vermont, where he resided two years ; from 
thence he removed to White Creek, in Washington 
county, New York, where he resided several years. 

At thirteen years of age, George went to learn 
the trade of a hatter, and worked at it for three 
years, though in a very irregular manner. He, be- 
ing the youngest person in the shop or family, it fell 
upon him to do the errands, go to mill, and do a 
thousand other daily duties, which younger appren- 
tices were always, in olden time, called upon to 
perform. He was the drudge. After staying three 
years with the hatter, he returned home and went 
to an academy one year, and this may be said to 
have been all the education he ever received from 
a schoolmaster, or in a school-house. 

In September, 1813, he returned to his native 
village in Berkshire, with nothing but a small trunk, 
slung on his back, containing a few shirts and other 
pieces of clothing. His trunk was given him by 
his sister-in-law, one of the kindest of women, and 
one of the best friends he ever had. At Adams, the 
future governor entered the office of Mr. W^ashburn, 
a lawyer of respectability in the county, and com- 
menced reading law, determined to make the pro- 
fession his occupation for life. He remained in 
Adams one year, when he removed to Lanesboro,' 
in the same county, and studied laboriously at his 
profession for four years, at the end of which time 
he was considered qualified to commence practice 
as a lawyer in the courts; and accordingly, in Oc- 
tober, 1818, he was admitted to the bar of common 
pleas. 

He was now a young man, 22 years of age, a 
lawyer and practitioner. Six months before he 
completed his law studies, he was married ; ever 
since which time he has been the advocate of early 
marriages, in addition to the other good causes 



GEORGE N. BRIGGS. 323 

which he has supported. After having been admit- 
ted to the bar, he removed from Lanesborough to 
his native town of Adams, where he put out his sign 
and opened an office. He remained in Adams five 
years, at the end of which time his business was 
such that he found it would be for his advantage to 
reside at the shire town of the county; and accord- 
ingly he removed again to Lanesborough, where he 
lived until the spring of 1842, when he removed to 
Pittsfield, where he has ever since lived. 

Mr. Briggs soon found himself employed in an 
extensive law practice. If circumstances had de- 
prived him of the many advantages which a liber- 
al education gives, nature had, on the other hand, 
been bountiful in her gifts. She had endowed him 
with an acute, logical mind, a natural eloquence, 
and a heart warm with every manly sympathy. 
He was one of the best criminal lawyers in that 
part of the state, and was engaged in most of the 
important cases. 

In 1830 he was elected to congress, and took his 
seat in the house of representatives, in December, 
1831. He was but 34 years of age when he entered 
congress. He continued to represent his native dis- 
trict until the people called him to the gubernatorial 
chair. He was reelected to congress six consecu- 
tive times, and served as a member of the United 
States house of representatives twelve years. The 
county of Berkshire, which composed his district, is 
what politicians call a close county; that is, in it par- 
ties were nearly equally divided. During the last 
twenty-five years, it has been, in about equal pro- 
portion, whig and democratic ; sometimes electing 
whig senators and sometimes democratic; but the 
personal popularity of George N. Briggs, when up 
for congress, never failed to give for him a decided 
majority, and to elect him the representative of the 
free and intelligent yeomanry of the blue hills and 
green valleys of old Berkshire. 



324 GEORGE N. BRIGGS. 

Governor Briggs carried to Washington the poli- 
tical principles and high moral and religious pre- 
cepts which he had been taught in his native New 
En":land. No man was ever more beloved and re- 
spected by his associates, of all parties, than he was, 
while serving as a member of congress. He was 
reputed to be one of the best presiding officers in 
the house, and was frequently called to the chair 
while the house sat in committee of the whole. 
His knowledge of parliamentary law was extensive, 
and upon questions of parliamentary precedent his 
opinions carried great weight. 

He was known in congress as a strong advocate 
of temperance, and his life practically illustrated 
his deep convictions on that subject. He was in- 
strumental in doing much good by his addresses, 
example, and advice. His name is held in high 
and deserved esteem by the friends of temperance 
in the District of Columbia; for many of them, 
has his warning voice sa^^ed from permature death 
and a drunkard's grave. 

Many of our readers will recollect the interest 
which was felt in this part of the country, when 
Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, through the advice of 
Mr. Briggs, put his name to the pledge. Marshall 
is one of the most extraordinary men our country 
has ever produced. Descended from one of the 
first families in Kentucky, related to the late Chief 
Justice Marshall, possessed of a mind of remark- 
able strength and brilliancy, a musical voice, and a 
commanding person, he came to congress, for the 
first time, in 1841, from the Lexington district, in 
Kentucky. His reputation as an orator and states- 
man, however had preceded him, though he was 
yet comparatively a young man. He had served 
with distinction in the legislature of his native 
state, and as a popular orator he w^as second to no 
man in the state. His appetite for strong drink 
was early formed; and it grew upon him. At 



GEORGE N. BRIGGS. 325 

Washington, amid the excitement and dissipation 
of the capital, his habit increased until delirium 
tremens ensued. At this moment Gov. Briggs step- 
ped forth to save him. He signed the pledge, and 
while he remained in Washington, and for two 
years after, he remained faithful to it. We could 
go on and relate many anecdotes and reminiscen- 
ces of Mr. Briggs, which would not be without 
interest, but the space allotted for this sketch will 
not admit of it. 

While in congress, he served on the committee 
on post offices and post roads, and during the 
27th congress, he was chairman of that committee. 
While on that committee he advocated a reduction 
of the postage, and a bill of his passed the house 
of representatives, reducing the postage on letters 
to five and ten cents, and abolishing the franking 
privilege. The bill was afterwards lost in the 
senate. No one has done more for cheap postage 
than Gov. Briggs. He was emphatically a useful 
and highly respected member. 

In 1843, he was elected Governor of Massachu- 
setts, and has been reelected every year since. 
How he has performed the duties of governor, the 
people of the state need not be informed. In per- 
son he is about six feet in height, has a pleasant, 
laughing blue eye, and light hair, now tinged with 
grey. As a man, Governor Briggs is unassuming, 
kind-hearted, and courteous. He is emphatically 
a social being. No one can tell stories better, or 
tell more of them, or will laugh heartier at one 
told by another, than Governor Briggs. In every 
relation in life, as a man, a magistrate, a husband, 
a father, or a friend, we know of not one stain that 
blots the spotless purity of his life and character. 
— Boston Museum. 




32 6 JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 



JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 

"As the wild flower of the desert spriiij^s up, blossoms, and slieds its 
fragrance upon the summer air, and dies, so man goes fortli upon the 
ocean of life, spreads the 'wide-expanded sail of hope' to the waiting 
breeze, and, with a clear sky, fain would believe that his will be a pros- 
perous voyage." 

R. HAMMOND, the subject of this sketch, 
Avas the son of Jabez Hammond, and was 
born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 
the 2d of August, 1778. The maiden name of 
^^*^'3\ his mother was Delano. His father was a di- 
rect lineal descendant in the fourth generation 
ft'oni Admiral Penn, whose daughter Elizabeth, the 
sister of Sir William Penn, married William Ham- 
mond, of London, England, and who, after his death, 
in 1634, removed, with her son Benjamin, to Boston, 
where she died in 1640. While still an infant, his 
father and mother, with a numerous family of 
children, removed from Bedford, Massachusetts, to 
Woodstock, Vermont, and were among the early 
settlers of that town. His father had followed the 
trade of shoe-making in Massachusetts, but having 
purchased and moved on a farm in Vermont, he 
there turned his attention to clearing it up and culti- 
vating for a 1 ivelihood. The subject of this sketch, in 
common with the other children, had few advan- 
tages of early culture. In those early periods, the 
advantages even of a common district school very 
seldom offered themselves. But notwithstanding 
the smallness of his opportunities, he gave early 
evidence that he possessed a mind of no common 
order. In the fall of 1793, at the age of fifteen, he 
left his father's house, and commenced the business 
of teaching a district school in Hartford, a town ad- 
joining Woodstock. He spent a portion of the next 
year in teaching school in Sharon, Vt., receiving as 
a compensation four dollars per month. 

As he early found himself in the possession of a 



JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 327 

larger share of intellectual power than ordinarily 
falls to the lot of one so young, and as he possessed 
a physical organization not adapted to the rough 
pursuits of agriculture, and as his tastes and inclina- 
tions all led him to use his mind as a means of liv- 
ing, he turned his thoughts towards obtaining a 
profession. The summer of 1795 he spent with Dr. 
Drew, a very respectable physician, near his father's 
residence, with a view to the study of physic ; and 
during the winter he kept a school in the adjoining 
town of Windsor, at six dollars per month. The 
summers of 1796-7 were both spent with Dr. Drew, 
while the winter of the first was spent in keeping a 
school at Fort Ann, in the state of New- York; and 
of the second, in keeping one at Hartford, N. Y., at 
nine dollars per month. The year 1798 was also 
spent in teaching school, a part of the time in Sa- 
lem, N. Y., at ten dollars per month, and a part in 
Granville, at eleven dollars per month. 

The summer of 1799 witnessed him commencing 
the practice of physic in Reading, Vermont. He 
however, soon became satisfied that he had mis- 
taken his profession, and the same year he came to 
Argyle, New York, where he once more engaged in 
keeping school. In 1800, he was in Salem, follow- 
ing the same occupation. The summer of 1801 he 
spent in Canada, and the winter in Vermont, keep- 
ing school. In 1802 he is found at Cherry Valley, 
Middlefield, Newburgh and Montgomery; and in 
the following year, in Newburgh and Montgomery, 
in the same occupation. The winter of 1804 was 
also spent in teaching school, which seems to have 
closed his career as a teacher. It is believed, that 
few men living, who have not made school teaching 
the great business of their lives, can show a longer 
or more persevering devotion to the art and mystery 
of communicating knowledge, than Mr. Hammond. 
This may readily and truly be assigned as one of 
the causes why he has ever felt and manifested so 



t> 



328 JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 

deep an interest in the success of common schools, 
and ur^ed their chiims so strongly upon the public 
mind for consideration. 

Mr. Hammond had for some time turned his at- 
tention to the study of law, hoping and expecting to 
find in that a more kindred pursuit than in the prac- 
tice of#physic. In the year 1805, he pursued the 
study of it, in Goshen, Orange county; and in the 
spring of the year following, was admitted an attor- 
ney in the Orange county court of common pleas. 
Soon afterwards, he established himself in the prac- 
tice of law, in Cherry Valley, Otsego county, where 
he became permanently located for many years, 
and where he has spent most of his professional life. 
He was not admitted as an attorney of the supreme 
court of New York until the year 1809, when he 
had attained the age of thirty-one years. The year 
following, he was married to Miss Miranda Stod- 
dard, of Connecticut. 

In 1814, after a spirited canvass, he was elected 
a member of congress for Otsego county; his per- 
sonal popularity was what contributed much to the 
successful result. He was a member of the con- 
gress that took the responsibility of changing 
the compensation of the members from a per 
diem allowance to a fixed salary; but he was, 
upon principle, opposed to the passage of the bill. 
His congressional course was firm and consistent, 
and characterized by that strict integrity that ever 
marked his conduct on all occasions. For a new 
member, he acquired and exercised much influence 
in the national legislature. 

So fully did his congressional course meet the ap- 
probation of his constituents, that, in the election of 
1817, he was elected a member of the senate of the 
state of New York. The period during which Mr. 
Hammond was in the state senate, was one of the 
most active and exciting in the political history of 
New York. He was of the republican school, but 



JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 329 

was a political and personal friend of the late Gov- 
ernor De Witt Clinton. While a member of the 
senate, he was appointed a member of the council 
of appointment. This was a curious anomaly of the 
constitution of 1777. The state was divided into 
four senatorial districts: southern, middle, eastern 
and western. Out of each one of these districts, 
once a year, the assembly nominated one senator; 
and these four, thus nominated, together with the 
governor, constituted the appointing power, dispens- 
ing, in fact, all the patronage of the state. The 
manner in which this council Avas appointed, the 
individuals who successively composed it, and its 
course of action, are all detailed with great fidelity 
in Mr. Hammond's political history of INew York. 
When a senator, he procured the charter of the 
Cherry Valley bank, which is now, after the lapse 
of thirty years, in a flourishing condition. 

While a member of the senate, and on the 19th 
of October, 1819, Mr. Hammond experienced a most 
severe loss in the death of his eldest child and only 
daughter Maria, a lovely girl, of the age of eight 
years. This terrible blow, inflicted as it was upon 
a mind peculiarly sensitive, was of a nature so se- 
vere, that he was long in recovering from it.* 

"Yet no one feels the death of a child as a mother feels it. Even the 
father can not realize it thus. There is a vacancy in his home and a 
heaviness in his lieart. There is a chain of association that at set times 
comes round with its broken link; tlieir memories of endearment, a keen 
sense of loss, a weeping over crushed hopes, and a pain of wounded 
affection. But a mother feels that one has been taken away who was 
still closer to her heart. Hers has been the office of constant ministra- 
tion. Every gradation of feature has developed befoi-e lier eyes. She 
has detected every new gleam of intelligence. She has heard the first 
utterance of every new word. She has been the refuge of his fears; the 
su[)|)ly of his wants. And every task of affection has woven a new link, 
and made dear to her its object. And wlien the little innocent dies a por- 
tion of her own life, as it were, dies. How can she give him up with all 
these memories, these associations ? These timid hands have so often 
taken hers in trust and love, how can she fold them on her breast, and 
give them up to the cold clasp of death? The feet whose wanderings 
she has watched so narrowly, how can she see them straightened to go 
down into the dark valley ? The head that she has pressed to her lips 
and her bosom, that she has watched in burning sickness and peaceful 

42 



330 JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 

During the intervals intervening between the ses- 
sions of the legislature, Mr. Hammond was engaged 
in the successful practice of his profession at Cherry 
Valley, where he had a large business which he 
conducted with great success. 

In the spring of 1822, Mr. Hammond removed 
with his famiJy to the city of Albany, where he 
continued to reside until 1830. While in Albany 
he continued the practice of the legal profession, 
and was engaged in various public employments. 
The winters of 1825-6, he spent in the city of 
Washington, having been appointed by the govern- 
or, agent of the state to settle and adjust with the 
general government some claims which the state of 
New York had against it. The summers of those 
years were occupied by him in performing his 
duties as state road commissioner to examine and 
report a favorable route for a state road. 

slumber, a hair of which she would not see harmed. Oh ! how can she 
consign it to the slumber of the grave? The form that not lor one night 
has been beyond her vision, or her knowledge, how can she put it away 
for the long night of the sepulchre, to see it no more? Ma)i has cares 
and toils that draw his thoughts and employ them; she sits in loneliness, 
and all these memories, all these suggestions, crowd uj)on her. How 
can she bear all this? She could not, were it not that her faith is as her 
affiction ; and if the one is more dee|) and tender than in man, the other 
is more simple and spontaneous, and takes confidently hold of the hand 
of God. 



Dr. Cheever, describing the frozen dead at the Monastery of St. Ber- 
nard, says, "the scene of the greatest interest at the hospital — a solemn, 
extraordinary interest, indeed — is that of the Morgue, or building where 
the dead bodies of lost travelers are deposited. There they arc, some of 
them as when the breath of life def)arted, and the death-angel, with his 
instruments of frost and snow, stiffened and cmljalined forages. The 
floor is thick with nameless skullsand bones, and human dust, iiea|)ed in 
confusion. But around the wall a group of jioor sullerers, in the very 
position in which they were fouiul, as rigid as marble, preserved by the 
element of an eternal frost, are regularly arranged. 'J'here is to be seen 
the mother and child, a most affecting instance of sulfering and love. 
The face of the little one remains pressed on the mother's bosom, only the 
back part of the skull being visible, the body enfolded in her careful arm 
— careful in vain, afftictionate in vain, to shield lier offspring from the 
elemental wrath of the tempest. The snow fell fast and thick, and the 
hurricane wound them up in one white shroud, and buried them. 



JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 331 

In February of the year 1828, Mr. Hammond was 
again called upon to experience a severe domestic 
affliction in the loss of a little son Jabez, a very 
promising and lovely little boy of between seven 
and eight years of age. This was a heavy affliction, 
and was felt by Mr. Hammond in all its severity. 
It would seem as if afflictions of this character were 
sometimes reserved by divine providence for those 
who were so constituted as to feel them with the 
greatest degree of intensity. It was long before he 
recovered Irom the shock. The following lines 
were penned by him about the time as expressive 
of his feelings. 

Son, thou hast fled ; 
Thou wert a green and verdant leaf, 

And /am pale and sere; 
Yet thou hast fallen, while in grief 

/still am lingering here. 
My noble, oh ! my darling boy, 
Thou wert thy father's hope and joy. 

Yet thou hast fled. 

Tell me not of it friend — when the young weep, 
Their tears are like warm brine; from our old eyes 
Sorrow falls down like hail-drops of the north, 
Chilling the furrows of our withered cheeks. 
Cold as our hopes and hardened as our feelings; 
Theirs as they fall sink sightless, ours recoil, 
Heap the fair plain and blacken all before us. 

In the year 1831, Mr. Hammond left this country 
on a visit to Europe. He visited England, Ireland 
and Scotland, and also Paris and some other parts 
of France. He returned in the fall of the year 
much improved in health. During his absence his 
wife died, of which he received no information 
until his return. Soon afterwards he visited the 
southern and western states, spending the winter 
at the south. 

After his return, and in the latter part of April, 
1832, he removed to Cherry Valley, Otsego county, 
where he had spent so long a period of the business 
part of his life. In the fall of the same year he 
married Miss Laura Williams, of Woodstock, Ver- 



332 JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 

mont. On his return to Cherry Valley he again 
commenced the practice of the legal profession, and 
so continued until February, 1838, when he v/as 
appointed first judge of Otsego county for the term 
of five years. 

In 1840, he conceived the idea of writing the 
political history of New York, a task at once diffi- 
cult and delicate, as it required much study and 
research, the exercise of a keen discrimination, and 
great care and nicety in detailing the acts of living 
characters. The writing of this work was prose- 
cuted during the year 184], and it was published 
in two volumes in the following year. The manner 
in which this work was received by the public, 
afibrded satisfactory evidence that its author had 
been abundantly successful in the performance of 
his difficult and delicate task. 

In the year 1843, he was reappointed judge of 
Otsego county. This as also his previous appoint- 
ment was made without reference to party politics, 
Mr. Hammond having withdrawn from any active 
participation in them from the time of liis return 
from Europe. 

In 1845, Mr. Hammond had conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of LL. D. by the trustees of 
Hamilton college, an honor deservedly bestowed 
upon him, and truly indicating the high estimation 
in which he was held by the public. The same 
year he was also elected regent of the university of 
the state of New York, an office which he has ever 
since and now holds. 

In 1847, he was solicited to write a continuation 
of his political history, by adding to it the life and 
times of Silas AVright. After some hesitation he 
finall)^ consented to undertake it; and in the follow- 
ing year it was published, making an additional 
volume to his political history. This was eagerly 
received by the public, and although necessarily 
involving a more extensive and minute detail of 



JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 333 

the acts of living actors than the former vokimes, 
afforded nevertheless, by the manner in which it 
was received, the most gratifying evidence that the 
task, although difficult and delicate, had been most 
faithfully performed. 

In the opening of the year 1849, Mr. Hammond 
was again called upon to suffer a heart-rending 
domestic affliction in the removal, suddenly and 
unexpectedly, and during an absence from home, 
of his only remaining child, Wells S. Hammond. 
He was a young man of great worth and promise, 
and was, and long had been, established in the 
practice of the legal profession in the village of 
Cherry Valley. His correct taste, accurate intelli- 
gence, strict integrity, amiable and friendly feelings, 
and prompt business qualifications, had endeared 
him to the town and county in which he resided, 
and to large circles of friends in different parts of 
the state. The more these qualities had displayed 
themselves the more severe appeared this afflictive 
dispensation. 

In respect to the intellect which has fallen to the 
share of Mr. Hammond, his acts, the stations he 
has occupied, and the works he has published, fur- 
nish the most abundant evidence. Those, however, 
who have had opportunities of forming intimate 
associations with him, would feel that some portion 
of injustice was done him, if no reference were 
made to the high moral considerations by which 
he has been actuated, to the stern and inflexible 
integrity he has ever succeeded in preserving, even 
amid the seductive influences of political life, and 
to the ardent desire he has ever manifested of aid- 
ing his friends, and especially of affording to the 
young every possible facility in making their way 
upward and onward in life. Numbers of these will 
continue to bless his name long after he has de- 
scended to the tomb of his fathers. 



334 JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 

St female poets, is p 

aid 



The following touching lines by one of our best female poets, is per- 
haps une(iu;illccl. Tiiose who ii:ivo experienced tiie loss of all they hold 
' dear, can not but weep over its truthfulness : 



Hide them, O hide thcni all away — 

Her little cap, her little frock; 
And take from out my aching sight 

You curling golden lock; 
Ah, once it waved upon her brow! — 

Ye torture me anew, — 
Leave not so dear a token here — 

Ye know not what ye do ! 

Last night the moon came in my room, 

And on my bed did lie; 
I woke, and in the silver light 

I thought I heard her cry. 
1 leaned towards the little crib, 

The curtain drew aside, 
Before, half sleeping, I bethought 

Me, that my girl had died. 

Take them away ! I can not look 

On aught that breathes of her. 
O, take away the silver cup. 

Her little lips were there. 
Take the straw hat from off the wall, 

'Tis wreathed with withered flowers; 
The rustling leaves do whisper me 

Of all the loved, lost lioui-s. 

The rattle, w ith its music bells — 

O, do not let them sound ! 
The dimpled hand that grasped them once 

Is cold beneath the ground. 
The willow wagon on the lawn 

Through all my tears I see; 
Roll it away, O ! gently roll, 

It is an agony ! 

Her shoes are in the corner, nurse, 

Her little feet no more 
Will patter like the tailing rain. 

Fast up and down the lloor. 
And turn that picture from the wall — 

Her loving, mournful eye 
Is piercing through my very heart, 

Again I see her die ! 

O, anguish ! how she gazed on me 

When panted out her breath ! 
I never, never knew before 

How terrible was death. 
My girl — my own — my only one — 

Art thou tor ever gone ? 
O God help me to bear the stroke 

That leaves me all alone ! 



STURTIVANT J. HAMBLIN. 335 




STURTIVANT J. HAMBLIN, 

I'AS born on Jewell's island, in the state of 
Maine, on the 18th March, 1817. His 
V^ father, Alniery Hamblin, was a house 
'^ painter by trade, but was chiefly occupied by 
farming and fishing, for which purpose he pur- 
chased Jewell's island in 1810. This is one of the 
outer islands in Cesco bay, situated about ten miles 
from the city of Portland, and is much noted from 
the many people who resort there to dig for treasures, 
said to have been there deposited by the notorious 
pirate, Kidd. Many a frightful and thrilling story 
has been founded upon the circumstances attending 
these money diggers, which would furnish ample 
materials for the novelist. This island is said to 
contain not only large stores of ill-gotten wealth, 
but is also supposed to contain mines of gold, silver 
and copper. This island contains about two hun- 
dred acres, has an excellent harbor, and from the 
unevenness of its surface, having many high hills 
covered with a thick growth of wood, is said to be the 
most suitable place of any on the coast for a contra- 
band trade. From this circumstance it is presumed 
the stories relative to the abundance of its wealth, 
&c., originated. 

Almery Hamblin was the son of George Amory 
Hamblin, who died January 5, 1839, at the advanced 
age of 87. He resided in the town of Goshen, in 
Maine, and was a descendant of James Hamblin, 
who settled at Barnstable in 1640. 

Born amidst such romantic scenery, it is no wonder 
that the mind of the subject of our sketch was insen- 
sibly led to the love of the arts for which he is so cele- 
brated. At the early age of six or seven years he 
might have been seen with a piece of chalk tracing 



336 STURTIVANT J. HAMBLIN. 

the surrounding objects, particularly those places 
associated with remarkable stories, arranging his 
characters from imagination. 

At the age of seven he lost a little brother to whom 
he was greatly attached, and by which he was greatly 
affected. The following day, he was seen to take 
a piece of chalk and a board and retire to the room 
where lay the child in the habiliments of the grave. 
In the course of an hour he returned, having suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a likeness so correct as to induce 
his father to procure the materials for its painting, 
which was readily accomplished. This likeness is 
still retained in the family as a specimen of the 
artist's early productions. 

On the following year his parents removed to the 
city of Portland, where his facilities for improvement 
in his favorite study were greatly increased by his 
being allowed to attend the Museum free of expense. 
Having a natural ear for music, he also in a short 
time learned to play "by ear" on several instru- 
ments. In his twelfth year he was employed to 
paint a family of " Grotesque Negroes," then in the 
place. For this, which created much sport, he was 
well remunerated. 

About this time he lost his father, and was left to 
the care of an older brother, with whom as a builder 
he worked for several years. At the age of nineteen 
he became acquainted with Mr. Charles Codman, 
a celebrated landscape painter in Portland, with 
whom he remained one year, paying a high price for 
his instruction. But his money failing, he tor some 
time carried on the business of house and sign 
painting. In his 20th year he married Miss Harriet 
N. York, daughter of Capt. Reuben York, of Portland. 
About this time, business being much depressed, he 
with two of his brothers, purchased a small schooner 
of about 80 tons burden, with the intention of fol- 
lowing the fishing business; but not meeting with 



STURTIVANT J. HAMBLIN. 337 

sufficient success, and having experienced much 
rough weather,^ he became dissatisfied and sold his 
share of the vessel. The proceeds he applied in 
part pay for a farm in the vicinity of Portland, upon 
which he settled. But misfortune as^ain followed 
in his track. The farm was located at the head of 
a bay, and in order to enrich their land, the farmers 
were in the habit of procuring the marsh mud. To 
do this it was necessary to go down the bay about 
two miles at high water, and leave their boat over 
the mud until the tide left, when it was loaded and 
remained until it floated off. 

On one of these occasions, during an intensely 
cold night in the depth of Aviuter, himself and 
another man, having loaded their boat, as it 
emerged into deepAvater, they to their dismay, dis- 
covered that owing to its being too deeply loaded, 
it was rapidly sinking. They labored hard, but 
the wind blowing fiercely at the time, in spite of 
their utmost exertions, she went to the bottom. 
Fortunately they were good swimers, and in an 
almost frozen state they succeeded in reaching the 
shore. They were providentially found senseless 
on the beach at midnight, by some men who were 
on a gunning excursion, and the proper means 
being applied, were resuscitated. 

During the first season on the farm, Mr. Hamblin 
raised a good crop, which encouraged him to make 
large preparations for the following years. But, 
alas for human hopes ! Being absent from home a 
few days on business, he returned to behold his 
house and other buildings in ashes! His furniture, 
provisions, clothes, &c., were consumed ; his fences 
down, his fields entirely run over, and his crops 
ruined. 

With a sad heart, he sold his farm, and com- 
enced the world anew, the payment of his debts 

* He was ou George's shoals in that memorable storm wheu so large 
a number of fishing vessels and lives were lost on those shoals. 

43 



338 STURTIVANT J. HAMBLIN. 

having taken every dollar. He had depended upon 
an insurance upon his house, but from some flaw 
in the policy, the company refused to pay the loss. 

Being, however, much esteemed by his friends, 
they furnished him with sufficient means to re- 
move with his family to Boston, Massachusetts. 
And in 1839, we find him with his wife and children 
in a strange city, with only five dollars in the 
world. The second day, however, after his arrival, 
he obtained a sitter for a small portrait, which gave 
such satisfaction, that in a short time he had abun- 
dance of work. 

Thus encouraged, he resolved never again to re- 
linquish his favorite study. He accordingly hired 
a shop in a business part of the city, and commenced 
business as a landscape and portrait painter. In 
this, he has succeeded beyond his most sanguine 
expectations. Many a hall in Boston and other 
cities is embellished with his landscapes and por- 
traits of leading men, affording illustrations of the 
power of perseverance, even under the most dis- 
advantageous circumstances. Thus in seven years 
he has accumulated a very handsome property, 
besides honorably discharging every claim against 
him, and returning the money so nobly loaned him 
by his friends in the dark hour of adversity. 

The last painting of note, executed by him, is 
the Crucifixion, designed for St. Nicholas's Church, 
East Boston, for which he received the sum of 
three hundred dollars. This paint big is considered 
by competent judges, to be equal to any of the 
kind now extant. 

Mr. Hamblin is now in his thirty-third year. His 
whole time is devoted to the arts, and if his life 
should be spared, we may safely predict a shining 
future. 



PETER C. BROOKS. 339 




PETER C. BROOKS 

NE of the most remarkable men of his age, 
and who accumulated an immense fortune 

by his own industry, was born in the town 

^Sof North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1765. He was 
.Ma. nephew of Colonel Brooks, of revolutionary 
memory, who was afterwards governor of Mas- 
sachusetts. 

In early life, Peter C. Brooks married a daughter 
of Nathaniel Gorham of Charlestown, the brother 
of Stephen Gorham, who was associated with 
Phelps in the Genesse and Holland land purchases. 
It is stated that Mr. Brooks made the bulk of his 
fortune in private under-writing. He kept a private 
insurance company, on the corner of State and 
Kilby streets — the old house known in revolutionary 
times as the Bunch of Grapes. This house, which 
has been pulled down within our remembrance, 
stood nearly opposite Butcher's Hall, which was 
the royal custom house at the time of the Boston 
massacre, in 1770. 

His savings were always carefully invested. Se- 
curity before large profit. He would take mortga- 
ges when few capitalists would touch them, on 
account of .the long term of the equity of redemp- 
tion — then three years.^ 

He was afterwards president of the New England 
insurance office, at the corner of Exchange and 
State streets. Mr. Brooks occupied for years a sub- 
stantial old-fashioned house in town, on the corner 
of Atkinson and Purchase streets. In 1839, soon ^ 
after the nomination of Harrison to the presidency, 
Mr. Brooks heard that Daniel Webster was going 
abroad for a few months, and wished to sell his 

• New York Paper. 



24:0 PETER C. BROOKS. 

town house on the corner of High and Summer 
streets. 

"What does he ask for it?" enquired Mr. Brooks. 

" Thirty-five thousand dollars," was the reply. 

"It is ten thousand dollars more than the house 
is worth," said Mr. Brooks, " but if Webster wants 
to 21^0 abroad, he must have the money, 1 suppose; 
so I'll buy the house." 

He accordingly concluded the purchase and 
moved into the Webster house. 

Mr. Brooks's country house was in Medford, and 
had attached to it a large and well cultivated farm. 
He died in the 84th year of his age. 

Mr. Brooks has left four sons and three daughters. 
The eldest son, Edward, resembles in his frugality 
and close attention to business, William B. Astor. 
Another son, is a wealthy merchant of the city of 
New York. One of the daughters married Edward 
Everett, who was governor of Massachusetts from 
1836 to 1838, minister to the court of St. James, 
under the Harrison and Tyler administration, and 
late president of Harvard university. A second 
daughter is the wife of Rev. Dr. Frothingham, a 
learned and eloquent clergyman of the unitarian 
denomination. The third daughter married Charles 
Francis Adams, the son of John Quincy Adams. 

During the period of his long life, the deceased 
practiced most untiring industry, and every good 
quality that can distinguish the citizen and the 
man. He was several times elected to the legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts; in which body, though not 
a public speaker, or an ostentatious ^^wrer, he was 
regarded as a man of practical sound sense, and as 
a patriot sincerely devoted to the institutions of his 
country. He was modest in his demeanor, kind to 
all; and no man who accidentally came in contact 
with him, would have supposed he was the pos- 
sessor of millions. As he was modest and unpretend- 
ing, so was he proof against the artifices of the 



OLIVER W. HOLMES. 341 

sycophant and flatterer. He had no vanity to gratify, 
no ambition to indulge. 

In all his intercourse and relations with the 
world, he maintained for himself the characteristics 
of a man. His vast estates were the result of 
honest industry, perseverance, and economy. He 
died iionored and beloved by the citizens of Boston — 
by the people of his native town — by all who knew 
him. 




OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 

FEW centuries ago, the clergy were 
entrusted with the care of the health 
of the community, either because the 
|y healing art was held in such respect 
that it was thought derogatory to its 
dignity to suffer laymen to perform the high 
duties of so noble a profession, or because the 
lucrative nature of a medical monopoly was 
as well understood by the church in the dark ages, 
as it is by the college in these enlightened times. 
The faculty, however, flourished in the cloister, and 
the learned monk and the skilful leech were one 
and the same person. A great deal of good, and, 
no doubt, a certain quantity of evil, resulted from 
the combination of the two vocations; of the good, 
it is sufficient to remember that the clergy acquired 
a two-fold claim to the gratitude, and also to the 
generosity, of the public; of the evil, we need only 
reflect on the extent of the influence conjoined — of 
the priest and the physician — to tremble at the 
power as well as the result of their coalition. We 
know not, however, whether this evil may not have 
been counterbalanced, in some degree, by the ad- 



342 OLIVER W. HOLMES. 

vantage of the superior opportunities afforded the 
medical divine, of distinguishing the nature of moral 
maladies combined with physical, or confounded 
with them ; and of discovering the source of those 
anomalies in both, which puzzle the separate con- 
sideration of the doctor, and the divine. Plato, in- 
deed, says that "all the diseases of the body proceed 
from the soul;" if such were the case, physic should 
prefer the service of theology to the ministry of na- 
ture. But the quaintest of authors, and at the same 
time most orthodox of churchmen, dissents from 
the opinion of the philosopher. "Surely," he says, 
"if the body brought an action against the soul, the 
soul would certainly be cast and convicted, that, by 
her supine negligence, had caused such inconveni- 
ence, having authority over the body." Be this as 
it may. Time, the oldest radical, who revolutionizes 
all things, has remodeled the constitution of physic : 
the divine has ceased to be a doctor : and Taste, no 
less innovatory than Time, has divested the former 
of his cowl, and the latter of his wig; but science, 
it is to be hoped, has gained by the division of its 
labors, as well as by the change of its costume. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes was born on the 29th of 
August, 1809. He is the son of Abiel Holmes, a 
distinguished clergyman, who died in 1837. 

His paternal grandfather was David Holmes, a 
physician, and a captain in the army during the 
old French war. His maternal grandfather was 
the Hon. Oliver Wendell, a descendant of the Wen- 
dells of Albany, and who married Mary Jackson, 
the daughter of Edward Jackson, of Boston. 

Dr. Holmes studied one year at Phillip's academy, 
Andover, after which he graduated at Harvard, in 
1829. He studied medicine in Boston, and com- 
pleted his medical education by a residence of se- 
veral years in Europe, where he had access to all the 
principal hospitals, and acquired that practical pro- 
fessional knowledge for which he is so celebrated. 



AMOS DEAN. 343 

In 1836, he commenced practice in Boston, and 
in two years afterwards, he was chosen professor of 
anatomy and physiology, in the medical institute 
connected with Dartmouth college. 

In 1840, Professor Holmes was united in marriage 
with Miss Amelia Lee Jackson, daughter of the Hon. 
Charles Jackson, by whom he has had three child- 
ren, two sons and a daughter. In that year he 
resigned his professorship at Dartmouth, in order to 
reside permanently at Boston. 

In 1847, he was chosen Parkman professor of 
anatomy and physiology in the medical school of 
Harvard college, which office he now holds. 



«<•»>-- 




AMOS DEAN, 

CELEBRATED as a lawyer, and so well 
known as the principal originator of the first 
Young Men's Association in America, was 
born at Barnard, a wild and remote region 
of Vermont, among the mountain pines, on the 
16th of January, 1803. At that time, the si- 
lence of the dense forest had scarcely been broken. 
Not a mark of cultivation was to be seen upon it; 
and the bear and wolf lived unmolested. The few 
hardy settlers that were there, dwelt in log houses, 
the only guide to which, in most cases, was marked 
trees, or the coiling smoke which ascended from 
their rude chimneys. • 

His father was born at Hardwick, Massachusetts, 
in April, 1767, and twenty years afterwards emi- 
grated to Barnard. The maiden name of his mother 
was Bhoda Hammond; she was the daughter of 
Jabez Hammond, and was born at New Bedford, 
Massachusetts, April 1771. In 1778, she removed 
with her parents to Woodstock, Vermont. She is 



344 AMOS DEAN. 

the direct lineal descendant in the fifth generation, 
from Admiral Penn, whose daughter Elizabeth, the 
sister of Sir William Penn, married William Ham- 
mond of London, England, and who, after his death 
in 1634, removed with her son Benjamin to Boston, 
where she died in 1640. 

The parents of Mr. Dean were married in 1801, 
and it was soon after that event that they settled 
on the wilderness spot where he was born. His 
father purchased the land, then an unbroken forest, 
in an uneven, hard-favored, rocky township, for the 
stipulated sum of a hundred pounds sterling. A 
very small portion of the purchase money was paid 
down, and it required many years of patient indus- 
try to realize the remainder. In due time, how- 
ever, the whole of the farm was cleared and paid 
for; and who can portray the satisfaction with 
which the venerable owner surveyed the fruits of his 
industry ! The secret of his success was that he 
was not ashamed of being thought poor. 

It will be readily imagined that in such an iso- 
lated spot, the opportunities of mental culture were 
of the most slender kind. Hence the subject of our 
sketch enjoyed no early school facilities. It was, 
however, his good fortune to be blessed with a 
mother of high intelligence and a superior mind. 
Having in her early years been a school teacher, 
she carefully fostered the strong inclination mani- 
fested by her son for the acqusition of knowledge. 

" How sweet is the recollection in after years of 
a mother's tender training! It were well that to a 
mother this duty shoulff be confided, if it were 
only for the delicious pleasure of musing upon it 
after many long years of struggle with the cold 
realities of life. Who is there that finds no relief in 
recurring to the scenes of his infancy and youth, 
gilded with the recollection of a mother's love and 
a mother's tenderness ? And how many have nobly 
owned that to the salutary influence then exerted 



AMOS DEAN. 345 

they must affectionately ascribe their future suc- 
cesses, their avoidance of evil when no eye was 
upon them, but when rested on the heart, the warn- 
ings, the prayers, and tears of a mother P' 

Warriors and statesmen have their meed of praise; 

And what they do or suffer men record ; 
But the long sacrifice of woman's days 

Passes without a thouglit — without a word ; 
And many a holy struggle, for the sake 

Of duties sternly, faithfully fulfilled — 
For which the anxious mind must watch and wake, 

And the strong feelings of the heart be stilled — 
Goes by unheeded as the summer wind, 

And leaves no memory and no trace behind! 

A subsequent attendance upon a district school 
during the winter months for several years, enabled 
young Dean to acquire the rudiments of a common 
education. He also had access to an old town 
library; and ardently loving knowledge for its own 
sake, he there acquired a great portion of that his- 
torical lore for which he is now so celebrated. 
How truly says Channing: 

" It is chiefly through books that we enjoy inter- 
course with superior minds; and these invaluable 
means of communication are in the reach of all. 
In the best books great men talk to us, give us 
their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls 
into ours. God be thanked for books! They are 
the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us 
heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are 
the true levelers. They give to all who will faith- 
fully use them, the society, the spiritual presence of 
the best and greatest of our race. No matter how 
poor I am ; no matter though the prosperous of my 
own time will not enter and take up their abode 
under my roof — if Milton will cross my threshold 
to sing to me of Paradise; and Shakspeare to open 
to me worlds of imagination and the workings of 
the human heart; and Franklin to enrich me with 
his practical wisdom, I shall not pine for intellectual 
companionship, and I may become a cultivated 

44 



346 AMOS DEAN. 

man, though excluded from what is called the best 
society in the place where I live." 

In his eighteenth year, while laboring upon the 
farm, he managed to learn the Greek and Latin 
languages. His plan was to write his daily lesson 
on a piece of birch bark, which he kept in his hat. 
"What a lesson does this teach to our young men, 
who, with every advantage, acconipli^^h so little. 
What industry, what perseverance did the conduct 
of this youth evince. With no complainings of 
fatigue, with no duly neglected, he worked in 
silence, and in the face of every difficulty he achiev- 
ed a moral triumph. While many were sporting 
their precious time in idleness and dissipation, he 
was digging down for "wealth of bright and burning 
thought," and discovering treasures of more value 
than rubies. 

Having earned sufficient money by teaching 
school during the winter, Mr. Dean spent a short 
time at the academy in Randolph, Vermont. 

In 1825, being desirous of entering the senior 
class of Union college, a difficulty presented itself, 
which was, that his father was legally entitled to 
his services on the farm until the age of twenty- 
one. The point was, however, amicably settled; 
the consideration being, a release to the father of 
all claim the son might have to the property as heir 
at law. Mr. Dean has frequently alluded to this as 
one of the best bargains he ever made in his life. 

Having graduated with honor in 1826, Mr. Dean 
returned to his native town. In the autumn of that 
year, on the invitation of his maternal uncle, the 
Hon. Jabez Hammond, (author of the Political 
History of New York,) he removed to Albany and 
entered the office of the latter as a student of law. 
Of the kindness of this relative Mr. Dean has fre- 
quently spoken, observing, that had it not been for 
his substantial aid, the many trials and difficulties 
which presented themselves never could have been 



AMOS DEAN. 347 

surQiounted. Had every man possessed of the 
means, imitated this example, how much talent 
might have been discovered! How many gems 
made visible by their glittering, would have been 
collected ! How many mines of beauty and rich- 
ness would have appeared! 

Iq May 1829, Mr. Dean was admitted an attor- 
ney of the supreme court of the state of New York; 
since which period he has continued to reside at 
Albany; and with what success in his profession it 
is needless to say, as the numerous important cases 
with which he is constantly entrusted will speak 
for themselves. 

In April, 1833, Mr. Dean delivered the annual 
address before the Albany institute. The subject 
was the philosophy of history. The address was 
printed and extensively copied by the press. It 
was in the fall of that year, that his attention was 
drawn to the principle of association, for the pur- 
pose of social, moral, and intellectual improvement; 
and he succeeded in getting up, and establishing 
upon a permanent footing, the Young Men's asso- 
ciation for mutual improvement, in the city of Al- 
bany. This is justly claimed to be the first institu- 
tion of the kind, that ever existed in this country. 
Of the fruits which it has already borne, and of the 
many prominent public men, who, but for its bene- 
fical influence, would have remained in obscurity, 
it is unnecessary to speak. 

Mr. Dean was its first president, and reelected 
for a second term. The institution has been incor- 
porated, and is in a very flourishing condition, and 
associations of a similar character are now in 
operation in nearly all the cities and villages in the 
state. 

In 1840, Mr. Dean presided at a convention of 
Young Men's associations of the state of New York, 
held at Utica. The result was, an organization of 
the whole into a state association, of which Mr, 



V 



348 AMOS DEAN. 

Dean was elected preisdent, and he delivered the 
first annual address. 

Some years since, Mr. Dean delivered before the 
Albany association, a very interesting course of lec- 
tures, on the subject of phrenology. The lectures 
were published, and furnished an ample theme for 
discussion, among that class who are apt to con- 
demn every thing that is new. In 1839, he had 
published in Boston, the Philosophy of Human Life, 
being an investigation of the great elements of life. 
This was a very elaborate work, but adapted to a 
class of readers and thinkers, not very numerous in 
this country. He also published a very valuable 
practical work, entitled a Manual of Law, for the 
use of business men. 

On the 5th of October, 1840, Mr. Dean delivered 
before the State Agricultural society a eulogy on 
the occasion of the death of the late Jesse Buel, and 
which was afterwards printed by the society. In 
July, 1840, he delivered the first annual address be- 
fore the senate of Union college. 

In the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, he was 
instrumental, with some others, in establishing the 
Albany Medical college. At the commencement of 
that institution, Mr. Dean received the appointment 
of professor of medical jurisprudence, a department 
in which he has continued to lecure at every term 
since its organization. In 1840, Prof Dean pub- 
lished a Manual of Medical Jurisprudence, disigned 
solely for the use of the classes attending his lec- 
tures. 

On the 14th of September, 1842, Prof Dean was 
married to Miss E. Joana Davis, of Uxbridge, Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Mr. Dean has long been a liberal patron of litera- 
ture and the arts. He is one of those who do not 
believe that to eat, drink and sleep, to pace around 
in the circle of habit, and bend the whole soul in 
the pursuit of wealth, is life ; but that knowledge, 



FRANK H. HAMILTON. 349 

truth, beauty, goodness and faith alone, can give 
vitality to the mechanism of existence; and that 
the langh of mirth which vibrates through the 
heart, the tears that freshen the dry wastes within, 
the music that brings childhood back, the prayer 
that call the future near, the doubt which makes us 
meditate, the death which startles us with mystery, 
the hardship that forces us to struggle, the anxiety 
that ends in trust — are the true nourishment that 
ends in being. 

We will conclude this sketch with the observa- 
tion, that "a good name, founded on real worth of 
character, is of more value than riches; and better 
is it for a young man to begin the world pennyless, 
with this in possession, than to be the owner of 
large estates, and the inheritor of paternal fame, 
with neither the disposition nor the ability to main- 
tain them. There is no truer maxim than this, that 
every man is the maker of his own fortune. He 
can not become wise, nor good, nor great, by proxy: 
and the earlier he is made to believe, and act upon 
the truth, the better." 



FRANK HASTINGS HAMILTON. 

OCTOR H/VMILTON, was born at Wil- 
mington, Vermont, on the 10th of Sep- 
tember, 1813. Four years afterwards, his 
parents removed to Schenectady, in the 
state of New York, where his career may be 
said to have commenced. After pursuing the 
usual preparatory studies, under the superintend- 
ance of a most excellent teacher, now a distin- 
guished divine in the city of Brooklyn, he was 
matriculated a member of the sophomore class in 
Union college. This was in 1827, he being then 




350 FRANK H. HAMILTON. 

only fourteen years of age. In college, although 
his standing in all the departments of learning 
was good, he did not distinguish himself, except 
by his proficiency in the classics. The gentleman 
from whom the materials for this sketch were ob- 
tained, was a fellow student with Frank, and 
chiefly remembers him as a pale and pensive boy, 
who loved retirement, and who appeared to take 
no interest in the rude sports of his companions. 
During the intervals of study he might frequently 
be seen rambling solitarily about the fields, or 
gathering specimens in botany and mineralogy, 
tor which sciences he had, even at that time, an 
ardent love. 

Having graduated with honor in 1830, he entered 
the office of Doctor John G. Morgan, surgeon to 
the state prison, at Auburn, N.Y. Here, with the 
exception of occasional absences in attending med- 
ical lectures, he remained three years in the dili- 
gent prosecution of his professional studies. During 
the whole period, while at home, he was in daily 
attendance on the prison hospital. Here he had 
constant opportunity, which he did not fail to im- 
prove, of witnessing and participating in the dis- 
section of the human subject. With such enthu- 
siasm did he devote himself to the acquirement of 
knowledge, that he repeatedly made drawings in 
oil, and of the size of life, of almost every part 
of the human body. With such zeal and industry, 
to have failed in being an ornament to his profes- 
sion would have been a miracle. 

Doctor Hamilton was licensed to practice medi- 
cine and surgery, by the Cayuga county medical 
society, in 1833. Two years subsequently, he re- 
ceived the degree of M. D., at the university of 
Pennsylvania. 

While a student in Auburn, his medical precep- 
tor, Dr. Morgan, gave many lectures on anatomy, 
on several of which occasions, the subject of our 



FRANK H. HAMILTON. 351 

sketch added a demonstration, or recapitulated the 
preceptor's lectures before the class. Such was his 
success in this first attempt at teaching, that when 
shortly afterwards Dr. Morgan accepted a chair at 
the Geneva medical college, by request, he himself 
gave a course of lectures on anatomy and surgery 
with great approbation to a class of sixteen. On 
repeating the course on the following year, the 
class increased to thirty-one. 

These private lectures were continued until 1838, 
and so great was the reputation he had acquired by 
them, that in 1839, without any solicitation on his 
part, and much to his siiprise, he was unanimously 
appointed by the regents of the university of the 
state of New York, to fill the vacant chair as pro- 
fessor of surgery in the college of physicians and 
surgeons of western New York. 

Here, while he was little more than a boy, he 
found himself associated with such men as Romeyn, 
Beck, James Hadley, James McNaughton, and 
others, and was in all his intercourse with them, 
honored with their highest confidence and respect. 

In 1840, Professor Hamilton received and ac- 
cepted an invitation to the professorship of surgery 
in the medical college at Geneva, the duties of this 
station he discharged with great ability for eight 
years. Having, however, in 1846, accepted the 
same professorship in the new medical college at 
Buffalo, and after filling both stations for two years, 
he in 1848, resigned the chair at Geneva, for the 
purpose of devoting himself to his profession and 
the professorship at Buffalo. He is now dean of 
the medical faculty of the univ^ersity of Buffalo, 
and surgeon to the Buffalo hospital of the sisters 
of charity, the duties of which station he performs 
with his characteristic energy, and with great and 
growing popularity, besides attending to a large 
and steadily increasing city practice. 

In addition to his other labors, Dr. Hamilton has 



352 FRANK H. HAMILTON. 

found time to write occasionally for the press. He 
is the author of an excellent monograph on the sub- 
ject of strabismus, and of a caustic and powerful 
pamphlet vindicating the science of metaphysics 
against the doctrines of Gall. He has written nu- 
merous articles for the medical journals, and report- 
ed a great variety of interesting and important cases 
in surgery. 

During the year 1844, he visited Europe, taking 
in his way nearly all the principal cities of the con- 
tinent and of the British islands, for the purpose of 
examining the hospitals and of enlarging by pur- 
chases the museum of the Geneva medical college. 
On his return he published an account of his observ- 
ations in about twenty successive numbers of the 
Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal. These 
papers are full of interest and well worthy of a stu- 
dious perusal.* He has cultivated general litera- 

*In an account of his visit to Palermo, Sicily, he says: "It can not be 
supposed that in such a country the science of medicine has made much 
progress. Medical students go abroad to receive their education, and 
although several physicians and surgeons in Palermo deservedly hold a 
high rank, yet they complain of tlie successful rivahy of the priests, and 
the ' Salassatori.' The priests, or what is equivalent, his holy relic, often 
obtains the credit of the cure, even when a regular pJiysician is employed. 
The Salassatori are found in almost every street; the shops being indi- 
cated by a barber's pole, two large copper basins and a horse tail ; occa- 
sionally, also by a vile painting representing a Seneca, throwing blood 
like a jet d'eau from a dozen orifices. Within, is a swarthy Sicilian, who 
will furnish you salves for ulcers, cancers and tumors, will leech and pidl 
teeth, will bind up your womids and mend your bones, will bleed you by 
the ounce, will sliave, cut hair and ])oint your imperial. These are the 
veritable representatives of the ancient barber surgeons, whose ensign in 
the twelfth century was a pole wrapt with a red roller, sujiported by two 
basins; of which honorable iraternity the great Pare boasted himself a 
member, and from which the jnesent royal stock of surgeons are lineal 
descendants. It is therefore that I have examined the more in detail 
these establishments, one of which I entered and explored entirely to my 
satisfaction; which done, I recpiested the surgeon to bleed me. 'How 
many ounces, Signore?' 'Six.' 'Where?' ' in the arm.' Immediately 
I was divested of my coat — my hand was niade to grasp the top of an 
upright rod, supported by three legs — my sleeve was turned up smoothly 
and tenderly above the elbow — the blood red fillet was then aj)plied in 
a most artistical manner, a spear pointed lancet selected from the arsenal, 
and already was the thirsty weapon glittering in the air, when I withdrew 
my arm, and declared myself satisfied. It was as a pupil and not as a 
patient, that I had entered the office of the descendant of my fathers. 
Francesco paid him the two carliui, and we went on." 



FRANK H. HAMILTON. ' 353 

ture more perfect than most of his brethren, and all 
the productions of his pen, besides being full of 
thought and vigor, are specimens of neat and taste- 
ful composition. 

Dr. Hamilton is of about a middling stature, of 
tolerably robust health, with a frame well knit and 
compacted, of a nervous temperament, quick in all 
his motions, and one whose whole appearance indi- 
cates mental and bodily activity with extraordinary 
powers of endurance. 

As a man, he is possessed of great amiability 
of temper, remarkably agreeable in his unreserved 
intercourse with his friends, and full of sparkling 
and glowing conversation, enriched with varied 
anecdotes and great information on all subjects. 
His habits are singularly unostentatious, and his 
manner of life simple and abstemious. He is also 
a consistent member of the presbyterian church. 

As a lecturer he possesses qualities of the very 
highest order, having received from nature the most 
favorable endowments, in a capacious and ready 
memory, a lively imagination, and a fluent speech, 
all of which he has sedulously and successfully cul- 
tivated. In his lecture room he never uses paper, 
and it is believed that his lectures are not written. 
Yet he never hesitates for an idea or for a word. 
He never, or very rarely, finds it necessary to repeat 
a sentence, but from the beginning to its close, his 
lecture flows on as a steady and transparent stream. 
He has the power of presenting every thought at 
the first stroke, with a clearness which stupidity 
itself, if it can not assent, can not fail to comprehend ; 
and what is most of all remarkable in him, is the 
singular ease with which he infuses into his other- 
wise dry anatomical discussions, an interest derived 
from his anecdotes of surgical practice, that arrests 
and chains the attention of all his auditors. 

As a practical operator, it is believed he has no 
superior of his own age. 

45 



354 JOHN K. HALE. 

In 1835, Dr. Hamilton received the prize for the best essay on the 
fevers of the western country. It was j)ubHshed in Drake's Medical 
Journal, at Cincinnati. At the time he had never been west of Roches- 
ter, and had seen scarcely any cases of the class of fevers upon which he 
wrote. His only object in contending lor the prize, was to get the $25, 
of which he was then much in need. 

In 1840 Dr. Hamilton had accumulated by his own exertions, a hand- 
some fortune, but lost it in speculation, besides inciu-ring a considerable 
debt But although cast down, he was not desti-oyed, for with the energy 
of a determined will, he conmienced retrieving his losses; and unlike so 
many others, scorning to avail himself of the benefit of the law, he has, it 
is believed, succeeded in discharging eveiy obligation. 

It has been truly said that all the young men have to be ruined once — 
if they begin rich or i)rosperous. Nothing but a miracle can save them. 
They either get married before they can afford the luxury of a wife — or 
fail, and then, and not till then, are they good for any thing. Men are 
not made by coaxing. They seldom thrive long on sugar plums. To be 
men they must rough it. And the sooner they begin the better. Oaks 
are rooted in wind and storm. Oaks therefore are trustworthy. Hot- 
house plants come up in a few days — and perish accordingly. 

Look about you, and you will hardly find an emment or rich man, who 
has not been at some period of life a bankrupt either in health or pro- 
perty. Such men, havmg learned by God's providences the value of 
what they have lost, being undiscouraged, have always found themselves 
strengthened by their fall. 



JOHN K. HALE 




'S a descendant of the great and good Sir 
Matthew Hale ; the family in England being 
now represented by Robert Blagden ^Hale, 
member of parliament for Alderly Walton, 
Gloucestershire. Of such a stock, the family 
in this country are justly excusable in occa- 
sionally exhibiting to their friends a family memento 
of their celebrated ancestor, in the shape of an old 
volume of sermons, now in the possession of Horatio 
Reed, Esquire, of Greene county, New York, one of 
the Hale family, in which is the veritable autograph 
of Sir Matthew Hale. As it is considered the com- 
mon property of the family, it frequently changes its 
locality, but never its family guardians. 

The mother of John K. Hale was a daughter of 



JOHN K. HALE. 355 

the late Doctor David Jones, of North Yarmouth, 
Maine, who was a student of the patriot AVarren, 
and was bv the side of that hero when he fell at 
Bunker Hill. 

His paternal g^rand mother was a Knowlton, a sis- 
ter of Colonel Knowlton, who fell at the battle of 
Cowpens, during the revolutionary war. His pater- 
nal grandfather was cousin to Captain Nathaniel 
Hale. 

John K. Hale was born in North Maine, in 1807, 
but spent the early portion of his life at Portland, in 
that state. In 1828, he married a daughter of J. 
Hall, Esquire, of the latter place, and is consequently 
a brother-in-law, by marriage, of the eccentric John 
Neale, of Portland, whose wife and Mrs. Hale are 
sisters. 

Mr. Hale had the good fortune to study law under 
that sound jurist, the Hon. William G. Angel, the 
present chief judge of Allegany county, New York; 
and it is needless to say how much honor he has 
done to his worthy preceptor. 

E-esiding at Hornellsville, in Steuben county, in 
the successful practice of his profession, he was, in 
the winter of 1848, elected to the house of assembly, 
by the whigs of the third district. Of the manly 
and independent course pursued by him while in 
that body, it is not necessary to refer, as his votes 
are on record, and will speak for themselves. It 
will be sufficient to say, that he has uniformly mani- 
fested an interest in all measures connected with 
the real prosperity of the country. 

He is a ready debater, and possesses a large fund 
of miscellaneous information. To this is added a 
ready wit and a high sense of humor. 

He has traveled much, both by land and by sea, 
having many hair-breadth escapes. Hence his 
knowledge is not only derived from books, but is 
the fruit of his own experience. 



356 



ROBERT SEARS. 




ROBERT SEARS, 

PUBLISHER of useful and moral works, has 

accomplished more real good than many 

whom the world calls great, but whose 

path has been strewn with the bones of slauoh- 

tered multitudes. *= 

^1 ^?v F''^'^ '^ ^^^ responsibility of the man 
who publishes a book ! and who shall trace its 
remote consequences for weal or for woe ' 

Unlike those of many of his contemporaries, the 
works published by Mr. Sears contain no impm-itv 
of sentiment-no serpent lurking beneath flowers 
In his writings we do not find debauchery deified 
and crime portrayed as a species of school for the 
education of beauty and virtue. Unlike certain 
favorite foreign authors of the present day, he does 
not hold up passion as the crowning charm of an 
angel; not as the condition of social happiness; sin 
as a misfortune which never entails its ills upon its 
ofFspring; monsters as the universal specimens of 
the human species; intrigue, violence and wanton- 
ness as the sole enjoyment of human activity. " O 
that a men holding such positions would reflect 
upon the awful responsibility, and consider how 
great is the power of written thought * 

nr.^"^ ^TJr'^' r''''' ''^ ^^' •^^^^"^' ^^'^^ Brunswick, 
on the 2Sth of June, 1810. He had struggled up 

through the laborious scenes of seven years' appren- 

* What the Russians think of authors mav hp onU,^nt^A r..^. ^ 

Sit r;^ i^'irzf:--TL^ t i^^-^f^^ 

U,Kle,Ml«ke.Ueor.hel.,,erS„,a„irtu 1 S."e5ta^X^a™ 
fi,-« whereos under the tandit there is ..othit.g bw Jheap o"*dn woj 




^QJIA 



ROBERT SEARS. 357 

ticeship. and, with a mind strengthened by a solid 
English education, always kept in view the great 
end of his life; — that hope, to convert the gloomy 
press into an engine of immense good, to make it a 
messenger of knowledge to many hundred thousand 
homes, and have the children of a future age say of 
him, this was not the hero of the sword, but the 
apostle of the printing press. 

How did he accomplish it ? In the spring of the 
year 1832, he started in business, and supported his 
family by printing cards and circulars. The cho- 
lera came, and with it the universal panic and the 
tottering of all public confidence. He was forced 
to close his shop, and take to his journeyman life 
again. 

Still in this time of unobtrusive toil, a great vision 
of usefulness opened upon him. While working at 
the press and case, he determined to become a pub- 
lisher. Without capital, without the praise of pomp- 
ous reviewers, without friends — save the generous 
few attracted by his unyielding virtues — he made 
up his mind to be the publisher of useful books. 

He calmly laid his plan, and in the silence of the 
night, after the day's work was over, matured it 
into shape. He determined to pursue the only 
legitimate method of publication — to advertise his 
works, place them thoroughly before the people, 
and leave the people alone to decide on their merits. 

The cholera passed, and he resorted to his press 
and types once more. In the short intervals snatch- 
ed from severe labor, he compiled a chart, entitled, 
The World at One View, placed it in type, published 
it in one broad sheet, advertised it for twelve and a 
half cents, and was rewarded by a sale of about 
20,000 copies. 

This was a good beginning. The Family Receipt 
Book was next published, met with a rapid sale, 
and the young publisher began to widen his plans, 
and concentrate his resources for greater efforts. 



358 ROBERT SEARS. 

Undismayed by the sneers of the idle and thought- 
less, the cold approbation of doubtful friends, he 
then projected a work in three large volumes, copi- 
ously adorned with engravings, and entitled. Picto- 
rial Illustrations of the Bible. This required immense 
labor, and, more than capital, the confidence of the 
public. The young publisher had it. For pressing 
steadily onward, after an interval of several years, 
he issued this work in the fall of 1840 — risked his 
all on it, staked every cent in advertising it to the 
whole Union, and sold 25,000 copies. Decidedly a 
triumph for the journeyman printer of yesterday ! 

Then he began his grand mission of teaching to 
nations and to man, by the medium of books, in- 
tended to be useful and popular, and made to speak 
through the eye to the heart, by appropriate and 
vivid pictorial illustrations. 

It is that branch of art known as wood engraving, 
which, by its peculiar qualities, especially presents 
itself as a great medium of pictured thought. It is 
cheap, available, effective. It can be printed with 
the pages of a book, and with the same press. It is 
capable of rich lights, and deep shadows, far beyond 
the power of copper and steel. Robert Sears has 
called to his aid this branch of art, and showed its 
powers in his Pictorial Illustrations of the Bible. 

The name of Robert Sears began to grow in the 
minds of the people, and the homes of the land 
learned it by heart in his numerous works. 

We might draw large deductions from the life of 
Robert Sears, but that life speaks for itself It says 
to every young man in the union, behold the fruits 
of unswerving integrity, unstained morals, unyield- 
ing enterprise. It shows, conclusively, that one 
man, aided by his own hand, may emerge from a 
printing office, and gather the harvest of his long 
years of toil, in the approbation of a whole people. 
It asserts, that with no capital, but a common school 
education, a firm heart, and an honest pair of hands. 



ROBERT SEARS. 359 

a young man may carve himself a glorious way to 
usefulness and fame. 

Mr. Sears published several months ago his great- 
est work, The Pictorial Domestic Bible. We can not 
but wish him success in it, for his whole heart is 
engaged in the enterprise ; he has brought the hon- 
estly acquired wealth of years to the task, and 
nerved his soul to its successful issue. It is a book 
for the pulpit, the home, the closet. In it we be- 
hold the Bible of our faith, glowing with pictures 
that reveal to us, at a glance, the life, the history, 
the poetry of the Bible. It is a glorious field — a 
holy task. 

Chance may produce a notorious, but never yet 
did chance produce a great man. No man can be 
wise or good without labor. Robert Sears is a firm 
believer in this stern truth, and upon this basis, he 
has arisen to usefulness and fame. He is above all 
sect or party. His creed is simple — it can be under- 
stood at a glance, for it is love. 

We must confess that this Robert Sears is no 
ordinary man. His books have become household 
treasures in the towns and farms of New England. 
The printed results of his research and industry, 
have enlightened the log cabins of the west, and 
penetrated with benevolent light, the rude homes 
of Texas. Throughout Canada, Nova Scotia, New 
Brunswick, and the British possessions in North 
America, he is widely and favorably known as the 
pioneer of a better age, in this home literature, 
adapted for the sanctities of the fireside. 

Even the queen of Great Britain has welcomed 
his labors with royal applause, and stamped his 
books with more than royal approbation — with the 
good wishes and the smile of a woman and a mother. 

It must be gratifying to Mr. Sears to reflect that 
the intelligence of the kind wishes and deserved 
approval of Victoria, was conveyed to him in an 
official letter, written by her request. 



360 WILLIAM M. CORNELL. 

An effective contrast might be drawn between 
Robert Sears and his granduncle, the Rienzi of the 
revolution, and who was by his opponents nick- 
named King Sears. The latter is seen in the dawn 
of the revolution at all points, now marshalling his 
soldiers on New York battery, now scattering into 
atoms the infamous tory press of Rivington, now 
boldly advocating the assembling of a continental 
congress. A sturdy man, nursed into familiarity 
with danger on the broad ocean, he gathers the 
people, becomes their oracle, prepares the way for 
Washington and the signers. Altogether, such a 
man as the Almighty sends to do a great work, and 
then retires from the stage. 

The descendant, Robert Sears, emerges from the 
shadows of a printing office, becomes the publisher 
of a people, and sends copies of all his works to 
queen Victoria, grand-daughter of George the III, 
whom King Sears successfully resisted on all occa- 
sions. The sovereign of the same nation, which 
opposed our entrance into the family of nations, is 
happy to receive American books from a descendant 
of a revolutionary hero."^ 



« « >• > 



WILLIAM M. CORNELL. 

,HIS gentleman, in whom are united the 
professions of physician and divine, reminds 
us of the following pleasant anecdote: 
The late Doctor C banning had a brother, a 
/fi^ physician, and at one time both resided in Bos- 
ton. A countryman in search of the divine, 
knocked at the physican's door, when the following 
dialogue ensued : 

* Lippard. 




WILLIAM M. CORNELL. 361 

Does Dr. Channing live here ? 

Yes sir. 

Can I see him? 

I am he. 

Who, you? 

Yes sir. 

Why, you must have altered considerably since I 
heard you preach. 

Heard me preach ! 

Certainly, you are the Dr. Channing that preaches 
ain't you? 

O ! I see you are mistaken now. It is my brother 
who preaches. I am the doctor who practices. 

Mr. Mason was born on the 16th of October, 1802, 
in the town of Berkley, Massachusetts. His father, 
who was a physician, was AVilliam Cornell of 
Swansey, Massachusetts. His mother was Abigail 
Briggs of Berkley, in the same state. His paternal 
grandfather was, Stephen Cornell, and his grand- 
mother was Sarah Buffington. His maternal grand- 
parents were Thomas Briggs and Sarah Philips. 

Mr. Cornell, the subject of this notice, graduated 
with honor at Brown university, in 1827. He 
studied theology with the Rev. Thomas Andros of 
Berkley, and the Rev. Timothy Davis of Wellfleet. 
He was installed pastor of the Congregational ch urch 
in Woodstock, Connecticut, on the 15th of June, 
1831. In January 18th of the following year, he 
iTiarried Miss Emeline Augusta Loud of Weymouth. 
In August, 1834, he left Woodstock, and was in- 
stalled as pastor of the Evangelical Congregational 
church in Quincy. The pastoral charge of this 
church he resigned in 1839, on account of ill health 
and the failure of his voice. When somewhat re- 
covered, he commenced a family school, in which, 
for three years he was very successful. In 1842, he 
removed to Boston, when still being unable to sus- 
tain the duties of the pastoral office, he directed his 
attention to the study of medicine. After spending 

46 



362 WILLIAM M. CORNELL. 

some time in the Tremont medical school, under 
the care of Drs. Bigelow and Reynolds, Holmes 
and others, he attended two courses of lectures at 
Harvard university, also one at the Pittsfield medi- 
cal institute. At the latter institution he received 
the degree of M. D. in 1845, and is now in the suc- 
cessful practice of his profession at Boston. 

Dr. Cornell is the author of several popular works. 
Among them is one entitled. Consumption Pre- 
vented, which has passed through many editions. 
Another work. The Sabbath made for Man, was re- 
ceived with high favor by the religious coummuni- 
ty. For three years he edited a monthly periodical, 
entitled The Journal of Health and Practical Edu- 
cation. This invaluable work has done much in 
disseminating a knowledge of physiology and the 
laws of health. Professional engagements have, 
however, compelled him to relinquish it. 

The doctor is truly a self made man, having with 
a perseverance seldom equaled, pressed forward 
through difficulties which would have discouraged 
one less determined. Acting in his capacity of 
minister and physician, he has proved a true com- 
forter to the afflicted sons of humanity. Would that 
there were more Christians among the medical fra- 
ternity; for what consolation can the professional 
atheist afford in the dying moment, and who, when 
the coffin lid is nailed down, pretends to believe in 
the doctrine that death is an eternal sleep, and that 
the survivors will not meet the departed again in 
the glorious Paradise above. 




CHARLES B. COVENTRY. 363 



CHARLES BRODHEAD COVENTRY. 

lOURTH son of the late Alexander Coven- 
try, M. D., who died at Utica, N. Y., in 
December, 1831, was born in the town of 
Deerfield, near the city of Utica (then Fort Schuy- 
ler,) on the 20th of April, 1801. During his 
early years, ill-health confined him much to the 
house, and placed him more immediately under the 
charge and care of his affectionate mother, to whom 
he was strongly attached, and whose death, when 
he was but thirteen years of age, left an impression 
which time will never eftace. From that event 
until his eighteenth year, his residence was chiefly 
in Utica, where, during a portion of the time, he 
attended the grammar school, the residue being 
spent in his father's oflice. In 1817, the latter hav- 
ing* formed a partnership with Doctor J. McCall, 
young Coventry was released from his confinement 
in the office, having laid in a stock of miscellaneous 
knowledge by the perusal of the books of a large 
library to which he had had access. During the 
three following seasons he was engaged in working 
on his father's farm at Deerfield, attending school 
in the winter. 

His feeble health not permitting him to continue 
his agricultural pursuits, and the large family of his 
father rendering it necessary that he should rely on 
himself, in the autumn of 1820, he took the school 
in the district where he resided and engaged in 
teaching. At the expiration of the term, he em- 
braced an opportunity afforded him of prosecuting 
his classical studies, as an assistant in a school in 
Utica. He remained there until the spring of 1822, 
when, with impaired health, he returned to his 
father and commenced the study of medicine. He 
attended, during several winters, the lectures of the 



364 CHARLES B. COVENTRY. 

college of physicians and surgeons of western New 
York, at Fairfield, the intermediate time being spent 
in prosecuting his studies in the office of his father. 
In the spring of 1825, he received the degree of'M. 
D., in the above institution. His thesis was on the 
subject of purulent ophthalmia, which had recently 
appeared in western New York. It was published 
in the New York Medical and Surgical Journal. 
During that year he entered into business with his 
father, which connection continued until the fall of 
1830. 

In the summer of 1828, Dr. Coventry was appoint- 
ed lecturer on materia medica in Berkshire medical 
institution. The best evidence that the duties of 
this station were discharged satisfactorily was, that 
the chair of obstetrics was added to that of mate- 
ria medica the next season. 

Professor Coventry continued to lecture on these 
two branches during the year 1829-30-31. That 
period, spent in the beautiful valley of Pittsfield, 
where he enjoyed the hospitality of its citizens, has 
often been referred to by him as the most pleasant 
in his life. 

In the spring of 1829, he was united in marriage 
with Clarissa, eldest daughter of the late Honorable 
Medad Butler of Stuyvesant, Columbia county. 
New York,* by whom he has had eight children, 
six of whom are now living. In the summer of 
1829, he had a severe attack of hemorrhage of the 
lungs, which for a time threatened his life. After 
several repeated attacks, he was determined to try 
the effects of a change of climate. Accordingly at 
the close of his lectures in the autumn of 1830, he 
removed to the city of New York, where he contin- 
ued to reside until December, 1831, when having 
lost his eldest child he was summoned to the sick 
bed of his father, who died on the 22d of that 

* She is the sister of Honorable B. F, Butler, N. Y. 



CHARLES B. COVENTRY. 365 

month. Circnmstances connected with the settle- 
ment of the estate, requiring his presence at Utica, 
at the earnest solicitation of his friends, he was 
induced to return to that city, which he did in 1832. 
On the appearance of the cholera in that year, 
Professor Coventry was sent by the common coun- 
cil of Utica, to investigate the nature and character 
of the disease. He subsequently made a lucid re- 
port on the subject, which was extensively published 
in the newspapers. His large and increasing prac- 
tice soon compelled him, although reluctantly, to 
dissolve his connection with the medical school at 
Pittsfield. 

In 1839, after repeated solicitations. Professor 
Coventry accepted a professorship in the medical 
institution of Geneva college, and he is the only 
one of the original founders remaining in that in- 
stitution. There he lectured on materia medica 
and obstetrics until 1840, when the faculty having 
reorganized, he received the appointment of professor 
of obstetrics and medical jurisprudence. Its num- 
ber of students in the institution that year was 195. 
In 1846, on the chartering of the university of 
Buftalo, Doctor Coventry was appointed professor 
of physiology and medical jurisprudence, which 
situation he continues to hold, the lectures being in 
the summer, and not interfering with the duties at 
Geneva college. 

Owing to a renewed attack of his former disease, 
he in January, 1848, accompanied by his wife, 
visited Europe, and was in Paris during the three 
memorable days of the revolution. He was one of 
the deputation of American citizens that called on 
the provisional government. After spending five 
weeks at Paris, he and his lady visited London and 
Liverpool, thence returning to the United States. 
This voyage proved beneficial to his health, but the 
death, during the absence of both her parents, of 
his eldest daughter, an unusually interesting child 



366 CHARLES B. COVENTRY. 

of twelve years of age, will ever cast a sadness over 
that period. 

There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead hinib is there ! 
There is no tiresitle, howsoe'er defended, 

But has one vacant chair. 

The air is fidl of farewells to the dying. 

And nioiiniings for the dead; 
The heart of Rachel for her children crying 

Will not be comforted! 

Let us be patient ! these severe afflictions 

Not from the ground arise, 
But oftentimes celestial benedictions 

Assume this dark disguise. 



"c^ 



We see but dimly through the mists and vapors : 

Amid these earthly damps; 
What seem to us but dim, funeral tapers, 

May be Heaven's distant lamps. 

She is not dead — the child of our affection — 

But gone unto that school. 
Where she no longer needs our poor protection, 

And Christ himself doth rule. 

In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion. 

By guardian angels led, 
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 

She lives, whom we call dead. 

Professor Coventry has been a freqnent and able 
contributor to the leading medical journals, and 
his addresses delivered before various medical socie- 
ties, most of which have been published, are too 
well known to require a particular notice. 

He was one of the earliest and most active advo- 
cates for the establishment of a state lunatic asylum. 
As early as 1834, he introduced a series of resolu- 
tions, which were passed by the medical society of 
the county of Oneida, nrging the subject on the 
consideration of the legislature, etc. How much 
does the community owe to such men, who live for 
others as well as themselves. 

Professor Coventry was one of the original board 
of trustees appointed by Governor Seward, and Avas 
on the committee appointed to draw up a plan of 
organization for the asylum. He was also appoint- 



/ 



CHARLES B. COVENTRY. 367 

ed a member of the new board, to which situation 
he has been successively reappointed until the pre- 
sent time. 

AVhat is more humiliating to the pride of man 
than a glance at the interior of an insane asylum! 
The exhibition of broken constitutions, decayed 
faculties, and shattered intellects, added to the 
general squalid wretchedness that pervades the 
scene, presents the most gloomy picture in the cata- 
logue of human woe. Philosophy hath no balm to 
mitigate the distress, or soothe the agony of the 
torn bosom that contemplates the awful curse. 
Friendship bleeds in vain. Love immolates itself 
to no purpose ; and the tears of sympathy fall as 
profitless as the dews of Heaven into the burning 
crater of Etna, or on the frozen hills of Caucasus. 
We may muse in sadness over a spoiled harvest 
and desolated country which marks the foot of ruth- 
less ambition — or pause in melancholy silence at 
the sight of hopes blasted by some more humble 
robber — yet there is a commingling of other feelings 
in the soul that serves in some degree to soften the 
sharp edge of bitterness. We can speak comfort to 
the heart steeped in anguish, and vent reproaches 
on the monster who can still reflect and feel — and 
even beneath the awe-inspiring scourge of the con- 
queror, we still indulge the pleasing dream that he 
can be reached either by the potent arm of justice, 
or the all-persuasive power of eloquence. But who 
can reach the insane, where the divinity, though not 
dead, lies wrapped in the dark folds of corruption? 

In 1846, Professor Coventry united with the Pro- 
testant episcopal church, thus showing himself, 
imlike too many of his professional brethren, a firm 
believer in the beautiful doctrines of the Christian 
religion. 



368 CHARLES T. JACKSON. 




CHARLES T. JACKSON. 

ROM a very interesting biogra- 
phical sketch in the Detroit 
Advertiser, it appears that Dr. 
Jackson was born in Plymouth, Mas- 
sachusetts, June 21st, 1805, and is 
^ descended on the father's side, from 

one of the Jacksons who came out with Morton, 
the secretary of the Plymouth colony, and on the 
mother's side, from the Rev. John Cotton, the first 
regularly settled clergyman of Boston. His father 
was an enterprising merchant of Plymouth, engaged 
largely in navigation. When but twelve years of 
age, it was Charles' misfortune to lose his parents, 
both of whom died within a month of each other. 
At this time, he was attending a private school 
at Duxbury, conducted by the celebrated Dr. John 
AUyne, where he remained three years. He was 
removed from this place by his guardian, to a mer- 
cantile house in Boston, where he remained one 
year, and though faithful in his business relations, 
acquired no taste for the mercantile profession. So 
much did he dislike this business, that he left it 
against the wishes of his friends, and put himself 
under the private tuition of the Rev. Samuel Dean, 
of Scituate, who was distinguished for his know- 
ledge of the classics. He remained here about two 
years, when having a strong taste for mathematics, 
he placed himself with Levi Fletcher, the preceptor 
of Lancaster academy, a gentleman distinguished 
for his attainments in this science. He continued 
with this gentleman, as his private pupil, for about 
two years, keeping up, by close application during 
this period, his classical studies. Mr. Kingsbury 
succeeded Mr. Fletcher as preceptor of the academy, 
with whom he remained one year, devoting himself 



CHARLES T. JACKSON. 369 

to the study of Greek. He had now completed the 
whole course of college studies under private tuition, 
and determined to enter the third term of the Junior 
year at Harvard university, but was dissuaded by 
his friends on account of ill health. To recruit his 
health, he travelled on foot through the states of 
New York and New Jersey, in company with several 
distinguished naturalists, among whom were Baron 
Lederer, McClure, Leseur, and Troost, making scien- 
tific observations and collecting objects of natural 
history. Upon his return to Boston, he entered 
Harvard university as a student of medicine, and 
pursued his studies with Drs. James Jackson and 
Walter Channing. After studying a year, by the 
advice of his physician, he devoted one summer in 
traveling in Nova Scotia, making the first miner- 
alogical and geological examination of that province, 
in company with his young friend, Francis Alger, of 
this city. An account of their researches was pub- 
lished in the American Journal of Science, in 1827-8. 
Upon his return, he pursued his studies with great 
enthusiasm, so that he soon took the lead at the 
dissecting room and the hospital. For a time, the 
collateral sciences were laid aside, and his whole 
powers were devoted to the study of medicine. He 
graduated in the spring of 1829, and received from 
the Boylston medical society the premium for the 
best dissertation upon a medico-chemical subject. 
In the summer of the same year, he again visited 
Nova Scotia, chartering a vessel for the purpose of 
procuring an abundant supply of minerals for his 
friends in Europe, whom he was preparing to visit. 
In the autumn of 1829, he embarked for France, 
and spent three years in the university there, engaged 
in the study of medicine, and in attending lectures 
in the Royal school of mines, at the academy of 
Sorbonne, and the college of France. He also 
traveled on foot through Switzerland and Tyrol, 
and spent two months at Vienna, studying the cho- 

47 



370 CHARLES T. JACKSON. 

lera, (that dreadful disease having broken out one 
week after his arrival in that city,) in company with 
Dr. John Furgus, of Scotland. These gentlemen 
made the first dissections of subjects who had died 
of cholera, in Vienna, and it is believed the first 
made in Europe. From Vienna he traveled to 
Trieste and crossed to Italy, where he made a pedes- 
trian tour through the country to Naples, and around 
the island of Sicily, becoming familiar with Vesu- 
vius and yEtna, as well as with the works of art in 
that interesting country. In his journey, he was 
engaged actively in the study of the mineralogy 
and geology of the countries through which he 
passed, and in collecting specimens. He returned 
to France, and traveled on foot through the vol- 
canic regions of Central France, visiting the mines, 
furnaces and manufactories in that portion of the 
country. 

He arrived at Paris on the 16th of June, 1832, at 
the time of the bloody insurrection of the people to 
put down the goverimient of Louis Phillippe, and 
assisted in taking care of the wounded at the hos- 
pital of St. Antoine, under the charge of Professor 
Berard, his private instructor. During the summer 
of this year, at the request of the internes, he gave 
a course of private instructions and lectures in surgi- 
cal anatomy, the cholera furnishing abundant sub- 
jects for experiment. In October of that year, fur- 
nishing himself with a select French library of 
medical works, and abundance of chemical philo- 
sophical apparatus, he returned to New York in the 
packet ship Sully. It wns on this passage that he 
explained and ilhistratcd to Mr. Morse the principles 
of the magnetic telegraph, which subsequently re- 
sulted in the adoption of that system of communi- 
cation. On his arrival at Boston, he established 
himself in his profession, as physican and surgeon, 
in which he soon became eminently successful, 



CHARLES T. JACKSON. 371 

especially in surgery, for which his experience and 
studies in France had fitted him. 

In 1834, he married Miss Susan Bridge, daughter 
of the late Nathan Bridge, a successful merchant of 
Boston. He continued the practice of medicine 
with much success, devoting his leisure hours to 
medico-chemical researches — to analytic chemistry, 
mineralogy, and occasionally making geological ex- 
cursions in this and the neighboring states. The 
latter researches soon attracted the attention of the 
governments of Maine and Massachusetts; and in 
1836, he was commissioned simultaneously, Avitli- 
out previous request, by Governors Dunlap and Ev- 
erett, of these states, to make a geological survey of 
Maine, and of the public lands of Massachusetts, in 
that state. 

He drew up a plan which was finally adopted, 
for the geological survey of the state of New York, 
and resigned the appointment of state geologist, 
conferred upon him by Gov. Marcy, preferring to 
engage in the geological survey of Maine, that state 
having been but little explored. He completed the 
survey of public lands, made two reports to Massa- 
chusetts and three reports to Maine, when the 
boundary troubles absorbed the money in the trea- 
sury of the latter state, and prevented further appro- 
priations for the completion of the survey. Before 
leaving the capital of Maine, he received the ap- 
pointment of state geologist of Bhode Island, and 
completed a geological and agricultural survey of 
that state in a single year, and published an octavo 
report, with a geological map of the state. Before 
the completion of this survey, he was commissioned 
by Gov. Paige, of New Hampshire, to make a geo- 
logical survey of that state, and he completed it in 
three years — publishing in 1844, a large quarterly 
report, illustrated by a geographical map, sections 
and views, with contributions on metallurgy, and 
for the improvement of agriculture. 



372 CHARLES T. JACKSON. 

He has also made many private surveys of mines 
for companies of individuals, and established a 
laboratory for the instruction of young men in ana- 
lytical chemistry. 

He made the first mining surveys on Lake Supe- 
rior, spending two summers on the shores of that 
lake, and has lately received an appointment from 
the United States of geologist, for the survey of the 
mineral lands in the northern peninsula of Michigan. 
He has made and published in his reports, more 
analyses of minerals — was the first discoverer of 
chlorine in meteoric iron, and has discovered a num- 
ber of new mineral species. He has been, and is 
consulting chemist to numerous manufacturers — is 
employed in the exploration of mines, and as the 
assayer of ores and metals for this state. His vege- 
table physiology and chemistry, connected with 
agriculture, have been eminently practical, and have 
tended in no small degree to improve that art. His 
laboratory is always open to the instruction of pu- 
pils in practical chemistry, whereby exact knowl- 
edge is diffused over the country, to say nothing of 
his numerous courses of lectures. 

But the great event of Dr. Jackson's life, is his 
discovery of etherization. No other discovery, with 
the exception perhaps of vaccination, can vie with 
this in the extent to which it has prevented human 
suffering. 

Previously to Dr. Jackson's experiments, the inlialation of sulphuric 
ether to such a degree as to produce unconsciousness, had been univer- 
sally regarded by all the authorities on the subject, as highly dangerous. 
Orfila and other writers on toxicology, had ranked it among poisons. A 
case of dangerous stupor of thirty hours diuation and several cases of 
death, together with many other effects of an alarming nature, had been 
recorded in books as having been produced by that agent. In this state 
of opinion among physicians and men of science. Dr. Jackson was led 
from his knowledge of its proportions, to conjecture with admirable sa- 
gacity that the bad effects which had followed its inhalation were due, 
not to the ether itself, but to the want of a proper admixture of atmo- 
spheric air, and to tlie acids and alcohol which he knew the sul{)huric 
ether of commerce to contain. This conjecture he verified by an experi- 
ment made upon himself in order to ascertain its efiects upon the human 



CHARLES T. JACKSON. 373 

system — an experiment wliicli, for boldness and delilierate courage, has 
no parallel in the history of science. He, wliile entirely alone in his 
laboratory, inhaled sulphuric ether from a cloth which he had moistened 
witli it, and applied to his mouth and nose till he became imconscious. 
In a i'ew minutes he recovered his consciousness, and neither then nor 
afterwards suffered any ill effects from the experiment. He observed for 
a short time before and after the period of unconsciousness, a peculiar 
state never before conceived to be possible in health, or safely producible 
in any condition of the body, to wit, a total loss of sensibility to external 
objects, and an apparently complete paralysis of the nei*ves of sensation, 
while he retained at tlie same time entire possession of consciousness and 
the other intellectual faculties. Subsequently, in the winter of 1841-2, 
he inhaled sulphuric ether for relief from the veiy distressing and dan- 
gerous effects of an accidental inhalation of chlorine, and experienced, 
in addition to the effects just described, entire though temporary relief 
from pain.' From these two experiments and numerous others in which 
he inhaled sulphuric ether in smaller quantities, and in all instances 
without any unpleasant consequences, he inferred that it is safe to inhale 
that substance to such an extent as to ])roduce unconsciousness, and that 
when inhaled to that extent it has the power to produce total insensibility 
to any degree of fain. 

He subsequently communicated these experiments and the conclusions 
he had drawn from them to several persons, and urged, though without 
success, two of them to make trial of sulphuric ether to prevent the pain 
of extracting teeth. He intended, when he should have leisure from 
the engrossing labors connected with his geological surveys, to institute 
further experiments, and to subject his discovery to a practical test him- 
self. Before, however, having opportunity and leisure to do so, he in- 
structed, on the thirtieth of September, 1846, Mr. W. T, G. Morton, a 
dentist of Boston, how to apply tlie ether, and induced him to test, under 
his direction, and with an express assumption of all the responsibility of 
the experiment, its power to destroy the pain of dental operations. On 
the same day Mr. Morton, following the dii'ections he had received, ex- 
tracted a tooth from a patient under the influence of the ether, witliout 
causing him any pain, and thus verified Dr. Jackson's induction, so far 
as the extraction of teeth is concerned. The next day Dr. Jackson ob- 
tained the consent of Mr. Morton to go to the surgeons of the Massachu- 
setts general hospital and request them to apply it in their surgical ope- 
rations. Several severe operations were performed at that institution in 
the months of October and November, without any suffering on the part 
of the patients; and thus fully verified Dr. Jackson's induction respecting 
the power of ether to destroy pain. 

In a few months the knowledge and application of the discovery were 
diffused throughout the civilized world. No discoveiy ever excited at 
its announcement, more astonishment and enthusiasm. Dr. Jackson's 
name is known all over the continent of Europe as a great benefactor of 
the human race. Authors have dedicated their works to him, and re- 
cently Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, president of the French rei)ublic, has, 
as a reward for the discovery, conferred upon him the cross of the legion 
of honor — the only instance in which this high distinction has ever been 
conferred upon an American citizen. 



374 DAVID BRYANT. 




DAVID BRYANT, 

ORN on the 6th of January, 1801, at 
Bradford, New Hampshire, was the eldest 
of eight children. His father, Benaich 
Brj^ant, was born in 1772, at Plaistow, 
w Hampshire; he was a cooper by trade, 
but in 1779, he bought 160 acres of Avild land 
in Bradford, and followed the business of farming. 
He died in 1845, aged seventy three. 

The respected mother of Dr. Bryant still survives 
in the enjoyment of fine health, and resides with 
him in Boston. 

His paternal grandfither was David Bryant. He 
was born at Plaistow, N. H., in 1736, and was a 
farmer. He was much honored, and filled numer- 
ous public offices. He died in 1810, in his seventy 
fourth year. 

His maternal grandfather, Daniel Cressey, was 
born in Beverley, Massachusetts, where he resided 
until he attained the age of twenty-one. He then 
took up arms in defence of the colonies, and Avas 
in many battles with the French and Indians. His 
hardships and suiferings were almost unparalleled. 
On one occasion he and several of his company, 
were surrounded by the Indians at the Great Ox 
Bow, where they remained several days without 
any food, except a little scout dog which hunger 
compelled them to kill and eat. At last, after many 
unsuccessful attempts, they discovered a place 
where the river could be forded ; and passing over 
in the stillness of the night by the aid of stakes 
and poles, made good their escape. Although 
frequently exposed to the most imminent danger, 
he was so fortunate as not to receive a single 
wound during the whole of the campaign. After 



DAVID BRYANT. 375 

the conquest of Canada, he returned to his native 
town, where he resided for several years. He then 
removed to Hopkinton, N. H., and thence in 1777, 
to Bradford, being- the fourth settler in that town. 
After holding many offices, he died in 1817, aged 
eighty-six. His wife died the same year, and at 
the same age. Their ancestors were of consider- 
able note in Europe. 

The education of Dr. Bryant was limited to a 
very irregular attendance at distant periods, at a 
county district school ; and although study was his 
delight, yet, the circumstances of his father imper- 
atively required his services on the farm. 

At the age of twenty, having a taste for me- 
chanics, he hired himself to a carpenter at Quincy, 
Massachusetts. Having quickly learned the trade, 
he removed to Boston, where he followed that 
business until 1840. His past experience and per- 
sonal practice then enabled him to assume the pro- 
fession of an architect, in which he succeeded 
beyond his most sanguine expectations. 

Mr. Bryant has ever been an able advocate of the 
rights of the artizan and the producer; being 
always ready to respond to their call, and serving 
them in every capacity at their assemblages. 

In 1838, Mr. Byrant was employed by the govern- 
ment to superintend the erection of four light- 
houses. In 1839, he was appointed temporary 
inspector of the customs. He has likewise held 
other offices. He is a striking illustration of the 
final success of perseverance. 



376 AM AS A J. PARKER. 




AMASA J. PARKER. 

ONNECTICUT was the native state of 
this distinguished gentleman. He was 
born at Sharon, in the parish of Ells- 
worth, Litchfield coanty, on the second 
of June, 1807. His father was the 
Reverend Daniel Parker, who was pastor of the 
congregational church of Ellsworth parish. 
His ancestors were of the good old puritan 
stock of New England, and had resided in the 
western part of Connecticut for several generations. 
His paternal and maternal grandfathers, Amasa 
Parker and Thomas Fenn, both served in the revo- 
lutionary war, and were respected for their integrity 
and moral virtues. The latter was for twenty years 
a representative in the state legislature, and a magis- 
trate. They lived and died at Watertown, in that 
state. 

The Reverend Daniel Parker was a graduate of 
Yale college. He married Miss Anna Fenn, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Fenn, Esq., and was for almost 
twenty years a settled minister at Ellsworth. 

In 1816, the reverend gentleman removed to 
Greenville, Greene county, New York, and took 
charge of the academy at that place. It was at 
that place, that the subject of this memoir, then 
only nine years of age, commenced the study of the 
Latin language. After remaining there two years, 
he spent a like period at the Hudson academy, and 
subsequently three years in the city of New York. 

Judge Parker was the eldest son, and, ever eager 
to learn, pains were taken with his education ; his 
father devoting the most constant attention to it, 
and securing him the instruction of the most care- 
ful instructors and professors in the country. 

As all those acquainted with him may readily 



AMASA J. PARKER. 377 

infer, no man was ever more completely and critic- 
ally instructed, in a course of classical education, 
than himself To a thorough knowledge of the 
dead languages, was added an acquaintance with 
modern tongues, and belles-lettres, as well as the 
more severe studies of mathematics. 

At the age of sixteen, he had completed the usual 
course of collegiate study, although not within the 
walls of a college, being precocious in intellect, as 
well as in stature. 

In May, 1823, as its principal, he took charge of 
the Hudson academy, an incorporated institution, 
subject to the visitation of the regents. During the 
four years which he remained at its head, the acade- 
my enjoyed a high reputation, and was in a most 
flourishing condition. His age was not then ma- 
ture, and his pupils, scattered over the state, were 
afterwards surprised to learn, that their preceptor 
was younger than many of themselves. During 
this time, the argument was used by the academy 
at Kinderhook, a rival institution, that the principal 
of the Hudson academy was not a graduate of a 
college. To obviate any such objection, Mr. Parker 
availed himself of the opportunity afforded by a 
short vacation, to present himself at Union college, 
in order to take an examination for the entire course, 
and to graduate with the class. This he did, and 
took his degree of bachelor of arts, in July, 1825. 

During the latter part of his term at the Hudson 
academy, he was entered as a student at law, in the 
office of that sound jurist, John W. Edmonds, then 
residing at Hudson, and since circuit judge of the 
first circuit, and justice of the supreme court. 

At the age of twenty, in the spring of 1827, hav- 
ing resigned his charge, Mr. Parker retired to Delhi, 
Delaware county, for the purpose of pursuing his 
legal studies, in the office of his uncle, Colonel Amasa 
Parker, a practicing lawyer of eminence at that 
place. He continued there until his admission to 

48 



378 AMASA J. PARKER. 

the bar, at the October term, in 1829. He then 
formed a law partnership with his uncle, which 
lasted over fifteen years, during- which period they 
were engaged in a most extensive practice. 

Immediately on his admission, he entered the 
higher courts, as an advocate; and, taking upon 
himself that branch of the business, he was for 
many years much abroad, at the neighboring cir- 
cuits, and at the terms of the common law and 
equity courts. 

Delaware county having for forty years been 
strongly democratic in its politics, Mr. Parker was 
early in life engaged in the great political struggles 
of the day. In the fall of ] 833, at the age of twen- 
ty-six, he was elected to the state legislature, where 
he served on the committee of ways and means, 
and in other important positions, during the winter 
of 1834. In 1835, he was elected by the legislature 
a regent of the New York state university- — a rare 
honor for so young a man — this distinction never 
having been before conferred upon one of his age. 

At the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a mem- 
ber of the twenty-fifth congress, to represent the 
congressional district composed of the counties of 
Delaware and Broome. It is here worthy of remark, 
that at both elections he ran without opposition, the 
opposite party deeming it useless to bring a whig 
candidate into the field against him. 

While in congress, he served upon several im- 
portant committees, and his speeches were upon the 
public lands, the Mississippi election question, the 
Cil.ley duel, and other great subjects of the day, all 
of which may be found in the Congressional Globe. 
His speech on the knotty points involved in the Mis- 
sissippi election case, was pronounced, by men of 
both parties, to be one of the best logical speeches 
they had heard for many years. 

In the fall of 1839, he was a candidate for the 
office of state senator, in the third senatorial dis- 



AMASA J. PARKER. 379 

trict. The canvass was a very excited one, owing 
to the fixct that a United States senator was to be 
elected by the next legislature, in the place of Mr. 
Tallmadge. Very great exertions were made, and 
about fifty thousand votes were polled. The result 
was, the election of the whig candidate, the late 
General Root, by a very small majority. 

This defeat of Mr. Parker was, without doubt, a 
fortunate event for his professional reputation, as it 
enabled him to prosecute the practice of his profes- 
sion with renewed energy and success, until he was 
appointed to the bench, on the 6th of March, 1844. 

On accepting, with hesitation, the appointment 
of circuit judge, he repaired immediately to the city 
of Albany, where he continued to reside during his 
term of office. The duties of the office were very 
laborious, and required the most constant applica- 
tion. As circuit judge in the common law courts, 
and as vice-chancellor in the court of equity, the 
whole of his time was occupied, and heavy respon- 
sibilities devolved upon him. 

In addition to the ordinary business of his district, 
the anti-rent difficulties added much to his labors. 
He commenced his civil calendars with questions 
of title, and at the oyer and terminer, the most pain- 
ful duties were imposed upon him, in punishing 
violations of the public peace. His labors at the 
Delaware circuit, in 1845, will not soon be forgot- 
ten. He found in jail about a hundred and ten 
persons, under indictment. At the end of three 
weeks, the jail was cleared, every case having been 
disposed of, by conviction or otherwise. Two were 
sentenced to death, for the murder of Sheriff Steele, 
and about fifteen to confinement, for various periods, 
in the state prison: for the lighter offences, fines 
were in several cases imposed. The course pursued 
by Judge Parker, met with general approbation. 
After the adjournment of the court, the military 
force was discharged, peace was restored, and in no 



^80 AM ASA J. PARKER. 

instance has resistance to process since occurred in 
that county. 

No criminal trials in the state were ever surround- 
ed with such difficulties, or more imperious!}" re- 
quired the exercise of firmness, caution, energy, and 
promptness. The following summer the degree of 
LL. D. was conferred upon Judge Parker, by Gene- 
va college. 

On the 27th of August, 1834, Judge Parker was 
united in marriage with Miss Harriet L. Roberts, of 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

The judge received from his father no patrimony, 
except his classical education. The means of ac- 
quiring his professional education, he obtained by 
his own industry, as a teacher. He has always ap- 
plied himself with great industry to his profession, 
and has ever relied on his own energy for success. 
By these exertions he has been able to surmount 
every obstacle, and to attain his present elevated 
position. His term of office as circuit judge, ter- 
minated with the constitution, and at the first peri- 
odical election held under the new constitution, the 
little bov who commenced learning Latin at nine 
years of age, was elected justice of the supreme 
court of the state of New York. 

His election was considered as a most triumphant 
vindication of the policy of committing the choice 
of judicial officers to the people. He was elected 
in the third judicial district, although in the seven 
counties which compose it, an adverse influence 
had been at work. It was thought that great pre- 
judice existed against him, on account of the duties 
his office compelled him to perform at the Delaware 
trials — yet his majority over the opposing candidate 
was nearly six thousand, embracing many of all 
parties, who came forward to cast their influence 
in favor of a candidate who had kindly, but firmly, 
enforced the execution of the law. 

As a magistrate, Judge Parker has always evinced 



AMASA J. PARKER. 381 

great firmness and independence. Daring the five 
years he has served upon the bench as circuit judge 
and justice of the supreme court, it has fallen to his 
lot, more than to that of any other judge in the state, 
to preside at the trial of causes in regard to which 
there was a very excited state of public feeling.* 

* It will probably be expected, that in connexion with this sketch, 
some reference should be made to the recent exciting trials, growing 
out of the failure of the Canal Bank, and during which Judge Parker 
presided on the bench. The author of this work, has been in Albany 
from the time of the decision, and as an indifferent spectator, has 
watched carefully the expressions and changes of public sentiment in 
relation thereto. Scarcely two months have yet elapsed, and the senti- 
ment is changed, and few who are competent to judge, can now be 
found who do not honestly admit the coiTectness of the decision. 

The failure of the bank and the trial of Theodore Olcott, its former 
cashier, for perjury, the nature of the defence, together with the pro- 
gressing investigation before a committee of the senate, created the 
most intense excitement, which daily increased. In charging the jury, 
it became necessary for the judge to decide a question of law, growing 
out of the peculiar character of the defence, of importance in the case, 
though not necessarily controlling the residt. It was a question never 
before presented on a criminal trial, and the correct decision of which, 
required discrimination and the careful application of general principles. 
It was also a question requiring careful consideration, and which 
fortunately there was ample time to bestow on it, before the decision was 
made. In deciding the question in favor of the defendent, Judge 
Parker must have known full well, that he was hazarding the loss of a 
popularity rarely enjoyed by a judicial officer; that a just judgment upon 
the question decided, or upon the motives which dictated that decision, 
could hardly be expected in a community so excited by losses, and so 
determined upon the punishment of the accused. It has been with 
truth obsened, that Avhen the passions of a people are aroused, and 
they seek redress for a real or supposed injuiy, they will not always 
await the slow progress of the administration of justice. Prompted by 
good nature and generous impulses, or huiTied on by passion or pre- 
judice, they often commit a greater wrong than the crime they seek to 
punish; and the excesses that have been committed in some of the 
states of the union under the well known a[)pellation of Lynch law, has 
already stained indelibly the pages of our history. 

There is no position that calls for a higher degree of moral courage, 
than that of the bench, especially under the system of an elective judi- 
ciary; and in a case where the judge feels it to be his duty to decide an 
important question of law in favor of the accused, surrounded by an 
incensed community, and when the defendant has enjoyed a respectable 
standing in society. 

Such was the situation of Judge Parker, on the occasion referred to. 
The j)ath of duty, however, lay plain before him, and he had the moral 
courage to pursue it. The attack speedily followed. In a city where 
he has resided for years, universally esteemed for the purity of his life, 
the amiability of his character, and his ability as a judge, he was sud- 



3S2 AMASA J. PARKER. 

denly assailed and denounced; and a portion of tlie local press either 
followed or led the assault. But the recoil is already apparent. It 
needed but time to reflect, and candor to acknowledge the error of a 
hasty o|)inion. Even durinji the heat of excitenient, those beyond its 
influence were ready to do justice. Letters were addressed to Judge 
Parker, from the chairman of the Judiciary Committees of both the 
branches of the state legislature, then in sessions, expressing a con- 
currence in his opinion of the law, and approving the firmness of his 
course. The following letter from the Hon. Samuel J. AVilkin, the dis- 
tinguished chairman of the judiciary conunittee of the senate, is so 
hap])ily and justly expressive, that we extract it from the newspajiers of 
the daj'. 

Senate Chamber, Albany, March 8, 1849. 
Hon. .\. J. Parker: 

Dear Sir — I noticed a few days since in one of the papers of this 
city, some articles impugning your decisions in the recent exciting case 
of the People ». Olcott ; and feeling, in conunon with every citizen, a 
deep interest in the faithful and upright administration of the law, I was 
induced to turn my attention to tlic proceedings of the trial referred to, 
and to your decisions on the points of law arising on its progress. The 
result of my examination has been an imqualitied approval of your deci- 
sions. Any other determination would, in my humble opinion, have 
been a departure from well settled legal principles. 

I rejoice, as a citizen, the more in the decisions you have made, since 
they manifest, that under the present mode of choosing judicial officers, 
the fears entertained by many, that established legal principles might 
yield to popular excitement, are not likely to l)e realized; and allow me 
to express the belietj that when the j)resent excitement justly produced 
by most flagrant acts of delinquency, shall have subsided, your decisions 
will stand fully vindicated by those who now condenm them. But 
whether thus vindicated or not, your stern adherance to law (so necessary 
to the security of personal rights,) surrounded by popular excitenient, 
will furnish additional cause for respect, to those who are best acquainted 
with your personal and judicial character. 

Presuming that the opinion of a member of the profession, although 
humble, might not, under existing circumstances, be unacceptable to you, 
I have taken the liberty to state it. 

I am, sir, with great respect, 

Your humble servant, 

SAML. J. WILKIN. 

A select committee of the Assetnbly, before whom the subject was 
brought, state in their report in regard to the charge to the juiy on the 
trial of Olcott, that " they have examined the cliarge of Mr. Justice 
Parker, and they are well satisfied that when the present local excite- 
ment shall have passed away, and even now, beyond the reach of its 
influence, public opinion will award him the full credit of having de- 
clared the law of the case honestly and flsarlessly, regardless of personal 
consequences." 

These letters and the report are from gentlemen entertaining political 
opinions ditt'ering from tliose of Judge Parker. Honest men of all 
parties prize the firm and faithful administration of justice as above all 
mere partizan advantages and attacks, based upon liastily formed opi- 
nions, upon our judiciary, are sincerely to be deprecated. We can not 



AMOS PILSBURY. 383 

better close this sketch than by quoting the following extract of a letter 
written by Andrew Stewart, Esq., to Lord Mansfield: 

" When tlie Ireedoni of in(juiry now contended for happens to be 
improperly used, it will be found that the mischief carries along with 
it its own remedy. The most valuable part of mankind are soon dis- 
gusted with unmerited or indecent attacks made either npon judges or 
individuals; the person capable of such conduct, loses Iiis aim; the unjust 
or illiberal invective returns nj)on himself; and the judge whose conduct 
has been misrepresented, instead of suft(>ring in the ])ubiic oi)inion, will 
acjpiire additional credit from the palpable injustice of the attack made 
upon hiui." 

Note. — The author would gladly have avoided any allusion to so deli- 
cate a subject, but his duty as a biographer dictated a different course. 
He has therefore given his own views, which he believes embrace an 
impartial statement of the facts, and for which, of course, he alone is 
responsible. 



AMOS PILSBURY, 

c3||^^0 celebrated throughout the whole country, 
w^^^% as a prison-keeper and successful manager 
xf\i^ of convicts, was born at Londonderry, New 
^Hampshire, on the^Sth of February, 1805. His 
Xj father, Moses C. Pilsbury, was a native of New- 
bury, Massachusetts. His mother was the 
grand-daughter of the Rev. John Cleaveland, who, 
for more than half a century, was pastor of a church 
in the town of Essex, Massachusetts. His paternal 
grandfather fought at Lexington and Bunker Hill, 
and continued in the service of his country until 
the close of the war. 

Moses C. Pilsbury, the father of our subject, was 
emphatically a self-made man, and his life affords a 
striking instance of the })ower of perseverance. 
Taken from school in his tenth year, ho Avorked with 
his father, who was a blacksmith, and on the farm, 
until he was twenty-one. On that day he left home 
with but one copper in his pocket, but with a heart full 



384 AMOS PILSBURY. 

of hope and a strong determination to conquer every 
obstacle. Travelin^r- between thirty and ibrty miles 
on foot, he arrived at Newburyport, where he en- 
gaged to work for a month at haying. For this he 
received eight dollars, to which, by working nights, 
he added two dollars more. At the end of the 
month, therefore, he was in possession of ten silver 
dollars; and this was the capital of the man, who 
subsequently acquired a good education and a hand- 
some property; who faithfully, served his country 
as an officer in the last war Avith England, and who, 
since that time until his death, was engaged in pub- 
lic business, discharging all his duties with accu- 
racy and fidelity. He was the first warden of a 
prison who caused the prisoners to earn more 
than their own support; and, to his honor be it 
said, he was the first prison-keeper who introduced 
the practice of reading the Bible daily to the pri- 
soners assembled. In the language of a celebrated 
writer on prison discipline, " Mr. Pilsbury was the 
founder and head of improvements in our prisons, 
at least in the New England states." He died at 
Derry, New Hampshire, in June, 1848, aged seventy 
years. He was much beloved, and his death was 
much lamented. Few men have attained a higher 
reputation for integrity and Christian philanthropy. 
With a heart overflowing with kindness to his iel- 
low man, it was no wonder that his memory is 
cherished. What power is there in gentle words! 

Amos Pilsbury attended school and worked on 
the farm until his thirteenth year, when his father, 
having been appointed warden of the New Hamp- 
shire state prison, removed with his family to Con- 
cord, in that state. The next season, Amos was 
sent to the academy in Concord; he was a diffi- 
dent and dull scholar. At the close of the first 
term, the teacher complained that his pupil had 
not made such progress as was desirable. For this. 



AMOS PILSBURY. 385 

Amos received a reprimand from his father, who 
told him that, unless he could make up his mind to 
apply himself more closely, he should be under the 
necessity of putting him to a trade. To this, Amos 
replied, that he would rather learn a trade than be 
kept at school. The very next day, being four- 
teen years of age, he found himself apprenticed to 
the tanning and currying business, in a neighboring 
town. He served a regular apprenticeship of four 
years, remaining with his employer until the failure 
of the concern. He then went to Littleton, Mass., 
where he worked for six months in the large estab- 
lishment of Benjamin Dix, Esquire. His object was 
to become perfect in his trade, being determined to 
become a finished workman before offering himself 
as a journeyman. 

From Littleton he proceeded to. Boston, seeking 
employment in all the large establishments in that 
vicinity; but owing to the market being overstocked, 
business had become dull, and the result was, that 
our young mechanic was offered but a trifle more 
than common laborers' wages. His mind was at 
once made up ; and with his characteristic energy, 
he resolved that he would never work a day at a 
business, the knowledge of which had cost him so 
much time and labor to acquire, unless he could com- 
mand a better remuneration. He returned home, 
and went to school. Soon afterwards, in April, 1824, 
he accepted the ofter of his father to become a 
watchman or guard of the prison, of which the lat- 
ter was warden, and here commenced his career in 
the management and government of prisons, for 
which he is so justly celebrated, and which has 
continued to be the business of his life. 

At this time he was but nineteen years of age. 
Having performed the duty of guard for about a 
year, he was, with the approbation of the governor 
and council, who were inspectors of the prison, ap- 
pointed deputy warden. 

49 



386 AMOS PILSBURY. 

On the resignation of his father in June, 1826, 
Mr. Pilsbnry, at the request of the governor and 
council, remained with his successor until the De- 
cember following.* 

In November, 1826, Mr. Pilsbury was married to 
Miss Emily Heath, daughter of Mr. Laban Heath. 
They have had five children, two only of whom are 
now living. Mr. Pilsbury continued to reside in 
Concord and its vicinity until the summer of the 
next year, at which time his father and himself 
were solicited to take charge of the new state prison 
then erecting at Wethersfield, on the Connecticut 
river, about three miles from Hartford. In July, 
1827, he commenced as deputy under his father as 
principal warden of that institution. The younger 
Mr. Pilsbury removed the prisoners from the old, or 
Newgate prison, to the new establishment, which 
was completed in the fhll of that year. The follow- 
ing notice of the application to the elder Mr. Pils- 
bury, to take charge of the Connecticut state prison, 
is fi-om the report of the Prison discipline society 
for 1827. 

"If the directors shall be so happy in the appointment of a warden as 
to secure the services of Moses Pilsbury, Escj., formerly Avnrdcn of the 
prison in New Hampshire, to whom they have ui)plied, and who has the 
subject now under consideration, we confidently anticipate the best results 
from this experiment on the penitentiary system in Connecticut." 

From the report of 182S, we take the following 
extract : 

" Moses C. Pilsbiny, tlie warden of the new prison at Wctliersfield, in 
addition to the provision whicii lie makes on the sabbath for pid)lic, wor- 
ship, regularly reads the scriptm-es to the assend)led convicts every morn- 
ing and evening, and in their behalf ortcrs prayers to the Father of 3Ier- 
cies. He is, besides, faithful in counsel, affectionate in sickness, and 

* The estimate placed upon his services at that time, as deputy warden, 
may be seen by the following extract from a comnninication of the Hon. 
David L. Morrill, who was then governor of the state, he says: "The 
experience and ability of Amos Pilsbury, ac(|iiired imder the instruction 
of his father, were such as to enable him not only to assist but to inform 
a newly appointed warden; and that during the time that he was deputy 
warden he became intimately acquainted with his conduct and ability to 
perform the duties of deputy warden, and was well satisfied that he was a 
faithful and efKcient officer, and highly useful to the institution." 



AMOS PILSBURY. 387 

lovely in his Christian sympathies towards those committed to his care, 
witiiont losing any thing in his prompt and successful attention to busi- 
ness and, discipline. He mingles authority and affection in his go- 
vernment and instructions, so that tlie principles of obedience and affec- 
tion flow almost spontaneously towards him from the hearts of the con- 
victs." 

Moses C. Pilsbury continued warden of this 
prison nntil April, 1830, when his son was appoint- 
ed to fill his place. The directors in their report to 
the legislature of May, 1830, speaking of his resig- 
nation, say: 

" It ought to be stated that when Mr. Pilsbury was first appointed, he 
gave us distinctly to understand that he should hold the olfice but for two 
years, which term he has more than accomplished." 

"He left the charge of the i)rison on the 21st day of April, 1836, and 
his son IMr. Amos Pilsbury, who had been deputy warden from the com- 
mencement, was ajjpointed to be warden. In selecting him, we were in- 
fluenced principally by the consideration that he was familiar with the 
discipline and routine of business, although he had not been acquainted 
witli the financial concerns or the accounts. We should, for many rea- 
sons have been better satisfied with a person of matin-er age. We hope, 
however, he may be found to possess qualifications which will outweigh 
the objections arising from his youth." 

It was perhaps not strange that the directors had 
doubts of his ability to maintain the institution in 
its then flourishing condition. But Mr. Pilsbury, 
although distrusting his own capacity for the situa- 
tion that had been so well filled by his father, took 
the place of warden with a determination that if 
energy, hard labor, and constant personal attention 
to the duties of his office could prevent it, neither 
the interest nor the reputation of the institution 
should snffer on account of his youth. 

The condition of the prison and the results of the 
two first years of his administration of its affairs, 
convinced a majority of the directors and the pub- 
lic generally, that Mr. Pilsbury's age did not dis- 
qualify him for the responsible place to which he 
had been called. Gov. Peters in his message to the 
legislature. May 1832, says: 

" The friends of the penitentiary system, have great reason to rejoice at 
the flattering results of the Connecticut state jjrison during the i)ast year. 
After paying every expense incurred lor the support and management of 
the establislunent, there remains a balance in favor of the institution of 
eight thousand seven hundred and thirteen dollars fifty-three cents; of 



388 AMOS PILSBURY. 

which sum six thousand five hundred dollars have been paid into the 
state treasiH-y." 

" Slioidd the concerns of the prison continue to be managed in the pre- 
sent laithful, prudent and skilful manner, it is a fair presumption that 
hereafter tiiere will be an annual net gain to the state from the institution 
of ten thousand dollars." 

" The importance of maintaining the penitentiary system is too great, 
in a moral and humane, as well as in a pecuniary point of view, to escape 
the attention of the legislature ; and it cannot be necessary to urge per- 
severance in pursuing an improvement, in the penal police of our state, 
which was so happily commenced and which has been followed with 
such signal success." 

A personal difficulty, which had occurred soon 
after his appointment, with one of the directors, and 
which had been very annoying and unpleasant to 
Mr. Pilsbury, resulted in his removal from office in 
September, 1832. 

A thorough investigation was, at his own request, 
immediately instituted into the affiiirs of the prison 
and its management, by a committee appointed by 
the legislature of the state, the chairman of which 
was the Hon. John Q. Wilson, now, and for many 
years a resident of Albany. The committee made 
a report to the legislature at their next session ; and 
so well satisfied were the people and the legislature 
of the injustice done to Mr. Pilsbury, that he was 
not only reappointed, but a resolution was passed 
directing the treasurer of the state to pay to him the 
expenses he had incurred in defending himself 
against the charges of his opponents, and four hun- 
dred dollars in addition thereto, for his own time. 

Mr. Pilsbury was reappointed in June, 1833, hav- 
ing been absent just nine months. The condition of 
the prison during his absence, and at the time of his 
return, may be gathered from the following extracts 
from the report of the directors. May, 1834. 

"It was at once apparent that the liigh state of disciitjine, Avhich hat! 
previously prevailed there, was very nmch impaired; the prisoners were 
noisy, bold, and disobedient. The want of Jirnniess and energy in the 
administration of the rules of the institution, had produced among the 
prisoners a state of insubordination approaciiing to anarchy." 

" The prisoners continued openly and boldly to declare, in the face of 
the directors, their determination not to submit to any control unless 
they were heard in the selection of a warden. This disorderly and mu- 
tinous conduct of the prisoners was the result of a conspiracy, which tlie 



AMOS PILSBURY. 389 

directors have reason to believe was known to and countenanced by some 
of tlie officers of the prison."* 

" The convicts appeared to be in the habit of fidly communicating with 
each other; of passing and repassing from the different shops, and of 
arranging plans of united operations. The under keepers were permitted 
to trade with the convicts, to deliver them money; and for what is 
termed over work, the contractors were allowed to provide them with 
articles of food, fruits and other delicacies, in direct violation of the rules 
of the prison. A great number of newspapers in which the affairs of the 
prison were discussed, were found in the cells and workshops. Such 
iudulgencies necessarily resulted in the utter subversion of order, and a 
total disregard of all law and authority." 

"The directors had no hesitation in reappointing Mr. Pilsbury, who 
had been removed from the office of warden, which he had previously 
held for a number of years, and under whose govermnent the disci- 
pline of the prison had acquired a very high and deserved degree of 
celebrity. Some very serious charges had been preferred against him 
by a member of a preceding board of directors, and the investigation in- 
stituted thereon by the legislature, resulted in a complete refutation of the 
charges, and in furnishing additional and honorable evidence of his fitness 
and capacity for the office. He has had charge of the prison since the 
6th of June last, under the careful supervision of the directors, and they 
are now gratified to be able to say that the present condition of the prison, 
its strict and admirable discipline, and the pecuniary results of his ad- 
ministration, prove abundantly that their confidence was not misplaced." 

"The task of recovering such an establishment trom a downward 
course, and of bringing it into profitable operation, was attended with 
great difficulties and discouragements." 

" At the present time the pecuniaiy affairs of the prison are in a very 
prospei'ous condition." 

During Mr. Pilsbury's absence from the prison, 
one of the keepers had been murdered by two of 
the prisoners, for which they were afterwards tried 
and executed. In the short space of nine months, 
one of the most flourishing institutions in the coun- 
try, had been nearly ruined by mismanagement, re- 
sulting from the change that had taken place in its 
government. 

From this time to January, 1845, nearly twelve 
years, Mr. Pilsbury remained as warden, to the 
great satisfaction of a large majority of the people of 

* An English paper in allusion to this want of discipline in prisons, has the following sarcas- 
tic hit at the ms.managers : 

The scene is within a prison. One of the g-entlemen convicts smoking a cigar in a warm 
bath while the warden brings his chocolate— another is having his hair cut o la mode, and the 
following conversation goes on between a turnkey and a convict in a dressing gown and slip- 
pers, smoking a raeerschamj and drinkmg now and then from a mug placed upon a fashionable 
tepoy at liis side : 

•' The governor wishes to know, sir, what exercise you will take to-day — whether you will 
pick a liitle oakum, or take a turn on the mill for a short time?" 

"Oh I give my compliments to the governor, and say, I shan't corae out to-day, I don't feel 
very well." 



390 AMOS PILSBURY. 

Connecticut, uninterrupted by the political changes 
that frequently took place, notwithstanding that 
he was during the whole of that time surround- 
ed by men who had, for sinister purposes, man- 
ifested great hostility towards him. An interest- 
ing volume might be made out of the incidents 
that occurred during this period of his life, but we 
will content ourselves with a few of the many ex- 
tracts from the reports and publications of the time, 
shewing the estimate placed upon his services as a 
public officer. 

Mr. Pilsbury having made the Wethersfield prison 
superior to any similar establishment in the coun- 
try, next turned his attention to the improvement of 
the county jails. He encouraged the building of new 
prisons in each of the counties of the state, and 
through his recommendations, the legislature au- 
thorized him to pay from the surplus earnings of the 
state prison, one thousand dollars to such counties 
in the state as should build a jail on the plan of the 
new prison at Hartford ; and he soon had the satis- 
faction of knowing that Connecticut possessed, not 
only the model state prison, but the best county 
jails in the country. 

The following extract, referring to county prisons, 
is from the fourteenth annual report of the Prison 
discipline society, published at Boston, in 1839. 

"Ill this good work of a thorougli reformation in licr coiiiity jail, Hart- 
ford county lias taken the lead. Her old prison, wliere so many unfortu- 
nate beings have received the fiuisliing touch in their education in vice, 
is converted l»y its ])rescnt owners into the busy worksiioj). A commodi- 
ous prison has been erected in its stead upon the general i)lan of the 
state prison at Wethersfield, with such alterations and improvements as 
the experience and skill of the very intelligent and able superintendent 
of that institution could suggest." "However well constructed a prison 
may be, and however admirable the system introduced therein, com|)lete 
success can scarcely be ex^)ected, unless a keeper be cm])loyed who has 
imbibed his knowledge at the fountain head, who has received a practical 
education under our accomplished instructor, (Amos Pilsbury) at Weth- 
ersfield." 

The 15th annual report in 1840, observes: 

"From the cash on hand, the warden (Amos Pilsbury) proposed to the 
last general assembly to pay $1000 to each county in the state which 



AMOS PILSBURY. 391 

would build a county prison on the plan of that in Hartford. A com- 
initteo of the legislature reported in favor of tlie nieasiu'c, and acconi- 
])anied the report with a resolution, (which passed,) to carry the measure 
into effect." 

" It is ])robably the most important measure which has ever been 
adopted in this country for the improvement of the county prisons. 
Amos Pilsbury and his father, when they shall see in future time the 
bearings of this measure in promoting the improvement of county prisons, 
not only in Connecticut but throughout the land, will never lament the 
pains they have taken, and tlie economy they have used, to obtain favor- 
able pecuniary results in the Connecticut state prison." 

We afterwards find Mr. Pilsbiiry engaged in im- 
proving the condition of the insane poor, especially 
that of the insane prisoners under his care. In a 
communication to the directors in 1841, he sug- 
gested that the surplus earnings of the state prison 
should be employed in erecting and supporting an 
establishment for criminal and pauper lunatics. This 
was sent to the legislature and referred to a joint 
commiltee ; from the able report of which is the fol- 
lowing extract: 

" If the state should adopt the humane suggestion of our respected 
warden of the state prison, which has been referred to your committee, 
and which does honor to his head and his heart, theaditional sum which 
would be required to sustain tlie institution hereafter, would be compara- 
tively small indeed." 

A writer in the Philadelphia Courier, in 1840, 
says : 

" We have frequently felt as if we were doing a great good to the pub- 
lic by citing the condition of the Connecticut state prison, as an institution 
which has shown the world two important results. 1st. That corporeal 
punishment is not njcessary. 2d. That a state penitentiary, with proper 
management may not only be supported without expense to the com- 
monwealtii, but may be rendered a source of profit. Capt. Pilsbury, the 
estimable and able superintendent, has the true system of management. 
It is the n)ild sytfui, viz., that which ajtpeals to the better instead of the 
worst feelings of human nature. He seldom punishes, but when he does 
he takes especial ])ains to show the criminal that he regards him as an 
unfortunate human being, not as a brute. Here is the mistake made in 
other prisons. We speak advisedly. We have visited and studied as 
many ])eiiitentiaries as any man of our age. Ever have we considered 
prison disci|)line as an important study for human society." 

Capt. Pilsbury, on one occasion, w.is told that a j)risoner who had 
been recently committed had sworn to kill him, and tliat he had actually 
sharpened his razor for that purpose. Without hesitancy, he sent for the 
man to come to his ofKce. "I wish you to shave me," said the warden; 
and seating himself added "here is all the aparatus." The man plead 
a want of skill. "Never mind," said the warden, "you are not intracta- 
ble, you will soon learn, and I intend you to perform my toilet daily." 



392 AMOS PILSBURY. 

The man, with trembling hands, went to work ; he performed the shav- 
ing poorly, for he was wholly disarmed, and was trembling more from 
fear, blended with growing conlidence for the warden, than from a con- 
tinuance of his fell purpose to take his life. When asked the next day 
by the warden why he did not cut his throat when he was shaving him — 
as he said he would do — exclaimed, " may God forgive me, but I did in- 
tend to kill you if I could have found an opportunit}' ; but now my Iiatred 
is broken down." 

The following in relation to the same incident, is 
from Miss Martineau's Retrospect of Western Travel, 
published in London, 1838: 

" Capt. Pilsburj' is the gentlemen who, on being told that a desperate 
prisoner had sworn to murder him, speedily sent for him to shave him, 
allowing no one to be present. He eyed the man, pointed to the razor 
and desired him to shave him. The prisoner's hand trembled, but he 
went through it very well. When he had done the captain said, " I have 
been told you meant to murder me, but I thought 1 might trust you." 
" God bless you, sir! you maj," replied the regenerated man. Such is 
the power of faith in man !" 

Neither of these versions are wholly correct, 
the circumstances as narrated to the writer bv a 
person who was then connected with the prison, 
were these. A desperate fellow of the name of 
Scott alias Teller, was sent to Wethersfield, for 
fifteen years; he had previously been confined in 
Sing Sing and other prisons. He was determined 
not to work or submit to any rules. Of course 
Captain Pilsbury treated him accordingly. He 
very soon cut one of his hands nearly oft^, on pur- 
pose to avoid labor ; but his wound was immedi- 
ately attended to, and in less than one hour after- 
wards, he found himself turning a large crank with 
07ie hand ; it was then that he declared he would 
murder the warden on the very first opportunity. 
Soon after this, the regular barber of the prison 
being sick, and Scott who had, it was said, when 
young worked at that trade, was directed by the 
deputy warden to take the place of the barber, and 
shave the prisoners throughout the establishment. 
Mr. Pilsbury on going into the shop soon after- 
wards, was told by one of the assistants, that the 
prisoners did not like to be shaved by this man, 
he had behaved very bad since he had been an 



AMOS PILSBURY. 393 

inmate, and they were afraid of him. Mr. Pilsbiiry 
immediately took the chair and directed Scott to 
shave him as related above. 

From that moment he became one of the best 
behaved convicts in the prison, and remained so 
until Mr. Pilsbury left it, in November, 1832. 
Soon after the appointment of a new Avarden, Scott 
tried to escape, and murdered one of the keepers. 
For this crime he was hung, at Hartford, in 1833. 

In 1837, the directors of the Connecticut state 
prison, say, 

"Thatnotliing has occurred during the year to diminish the coufi- 
dence hitherto expressed, in the good discipline and proper manage- 
ment of the institution, nor to detract from its former higia reputation. 
By referring to the warden's report, the income of the prison for each 
year, since it has been in operation, may be ascertained togetlier 
with the disposition, which has from time to time, been made of the 
hicome. From this full and interesting document we clearly see the 
importance of a systematic and uniform course of management, that it 
is easy, in a short time, so to impair the discipline of the prison, as not 
only to diminish its income, but to require years of good manage- 
ment for its restoration. The income of the prison annually increased 
from its first establishment at Wethersfield, until the year ]83'2, when 
unfortunately a change was made for a short time, of the officers of the 
institution, and consequently of its discipline. The annual income was 
then suddenly reduced fi-ora $8,713.53 to 81500. Since then the in- 
come has again yearly increased, until it now nearly equals that of any 
former period." 

In the report of the same officers to the legislature, 
in May, 1842, they remark, 

" We should do injustice to the Avarden of the prison, if we should 
omit to bear testimony to his superior qualifications for the arduous and 
responsible office which beholds, and has so long held to the great satis- 
faction of a large majority of the people of the state, discharging all 
his official duties with great ability, with fidelity' to the state, with hu- 
manity to the prisoners, and to the unqualified acceptance of the di- 
rectors; to his unrivaled skill and singular fitness for the station which 
he holds, that the gratifying results in the management of the Con- 
necticut state prison are mainly attributable." 

A writer, in his suggestions on prison manage- 
ment says, 

" The elder Mr. Pilsbur}, was tlie acknowledged founder of the im- 
proved system of prison discipline, at least so far as New England is 
concerned. Mr. Pilsburv' the younger, was educated under his father's 
eye, has carried into operation every principle and rule which his father 
fomid so eminently successful in restraining the turbulent scamps, which 
the law has swept togetlier into a state prison; he has very much im- 

50 



394 f AMOS PILSBURY. 

proved on tliem, and is now, we hesitate not to say, the most perfect 
state prison warden to be found in the United States." 

In speaking of the prison, he says, 

"The Connecti'rut state prison, is, as conducted by Amos Pilsbury, 
the pride of the state, and fearlessly challenges comparison with any 
similar establishment in the world." 

Extract from the report of the directors of the 
Connecticut state prison to the legislature, May, 
1843: 

" In conclusion the directors would be doing violence to their own 
feelings, did they fail to express their gratification at the admirable man- 
ner in which the warden has for a long series of years discharged his 
arduous duties with credit to himself and advantage to the state. As a 
thorough disciplinarian, he is believed to be unequalled in the country; 
and as an able, faithful, energetic public officer, they consider him de- 
serving of the highest respect and commendation." 

Governor Hill of New Hampshire, in an article 
published in 1841, observes: 

" Mr. Pilsbiu-y is a great favorite in his native state, owing to the ad- 
mirable manner in which for twelve years past he has discharged the 
duties of his office (warden of the state prison at Wethersfield, Conn.) 
The younger Mr. Pilsbury has done in Connecticut what has been done 
in no other penitentiary of this country, made it year after year, and every 
year, a source of profit and gain to the state, and maintained a more hu- 
mane and more effectual discipline in the labors and morals of the con- 
victs, than has ever been presented in any other similar institution of 
this country." 

"As the worthy son of Moses C. Pilsbury, Esq., the most indeAitigable 
and successful warden of the New Hampshire state prison, ever at the 
head of that institution, Capt. Amos Pilsbury has managed the Con- 
necticut penitentiary at Wethersfield with results such as, becoming a 
matter of histoiy, have elicited the surprise and admiration of the wliole 
country." 

The late Hon. Eoger M. Sherman, in a report 
which has been published, speaking of the Connec- 
ticut state prison, makes the following remarks: 

" Instead of being a charge on the treasury, it is a source of revenue. 
In ten years the net earnings, above all expenses, have been sufficient to 
pay every expense of its erection, support, and management, and leave a 
surplus on hand of over $10,000. 'J'he state, however, is greatly indebted 
to ihe Messrs. Pilsbury for their superior skill in conducting the institu- 
tion. By one who was competent to judge, and had made extensive 
inquiry in this conntiy and in Kurope, they have been pronounced the 
best prison keepers in the world." 

From a report made to the legislature of Connecti- 
cut, in May, 1844, by the directors of the state pri- 



AMOS PILSBURY. 395 

son, it appeared, that in the seventeen years it had 
been in operation, (during three of which it was 
under the government of his father,) the income or 
profits thereof, after defraying every expense for the 
support and management of the convicts, amounted 
in the aggregate to the enormous sum o^ ninety-three 
thousand dollars: and that, with the exception of the 
interval of nine months, in which Mr. Pilsbury had 
been renioved, as belbre mentioned, (in which time 
a loss of nearly $1,000 had occurred,) ihe profits had 
been nearly uniform in each year, while its disci- 
pline and other heneficial effects had continued 
steadily to advance. At this time it was universally 
admitted, that the Connecticut institution, in regard 
to its reformatory influences and general good man- 
agement, was the pattern prison of the land, and it 
was held up far and wide as a model for imitation. 
When its pecuniary results for the seventeen years 
of its existence were compared with those of the 
former mode, for the same period of time immedi- 
ately preceding its final abolishment, the conse- 
quences were still more extraordinary. From 1810 
to 1827, (seventeen years,) the money drawn from 
the state treasury for the expenses attending the 
support of the old Newgate prison, over and above 
its earnings, had been upwards of one hundred and 
twenty-Jim thousand dollars; thus making the differ- 
ence, or gain, to the state in the maintenance of 
its convicts during the establishment of the Weth- 
ersfield prison, under the management of Mr. Pils- 
bury, amount to more than two hundred and eighteen 
thousand dollars. And the directors further observe : 

" This immense saving we conceive to be comparatively but a small 
item, when we consider the incalculable benefits resulting from the mo- 
ral reformation of the convicts." 

From these large earnings of the Wethersfield 
prison, more than forty-three thousand dollars was 
paid into the state treasury; fifteen thousand dollars 



396 AMOS PILSBURY. 

was expended in new bnildinj^^s and improvements 
to the prison itself, and the balance appropriated 
towards the erection of county jails throughout the state, 
and for other purposes. 

The publication of this report caused a great sensa- 
tion. It excited attention not only in Connecti- 
cut, but throughout the Union. That the labor of 
convicts in a prison should be sufficiently produc- 
tive for its own support, although rarely attained, 
could be comprehended and satisfactorily under- 
stood; but that it should yield such an ample, direct 
and tangible revenue, besides, as to be sensibly felt 
in defraying the ordinary expenses of a large state 
government, was a new and astonishing feature 
in civil polity. It was so viewed and by com- 
mon consent Mr. Pilsbury was looked upon as 
an extraordinary individual. In the language of a 
well-known citizen of Massachusetts, addressed to 
the writer of this sketch — 

"No oilier man in this, or any otiier country, lias ever sliown such re- 
sults for so loufi a course of time, so lar as my kuowledge and observation 
extends, as Amos Pilsbury." 

A newspaper article at the same time remarked : 

" It is seldom a man finds iiis right place in the world, but it is quite 
certain that INlr. Pilsbury has found his, as the manager of a prison." 

His character was established — his talents ac- 
knowledged. The Wethersfield prison, and its 
warden, became objects of interest abroad, as well 
as at home. The most eminent men of the day 
courted the acquaintance of Mr. Pilsbury, and sought 
his correspondence, in which he soon became ex- 
tensively engaged. A communication from the 
honorable John W. Edmonds, at that time one of 
the inspectors of the Sing-Sing prison. New York, 
possessed peculiar interest, was published at Hart- 
ford, in September, 1 844, and was extensively copied. 
Its great length forbids its introduction here. 



AMOS PILSBURY. 397 

After having directed its concerns and been con- 
nected with its management nearly eighteen years, 
Mr. Pilsbury left the Wethersfield prison on the first 
day of January, 1845. For financial prosperity and 
every other excellence, it had not at that time its 
equal in America. His last report to the directors 
(being for only nine months of the fiscal year,) con- 
tains the following paragraph: 

" I herewith hand you my rei)ort of the income and expenditures of 
the institution I'or the nine niontiis ending Decemher 31st, 1844. It will 
be seen by the several statements annexed, that the nett profit durinaf 
this time is six thousand one hundred and seventy-three dollars and 
thirty-nine cents; that I have paid into the state treasury the sum of 
ten thoxixand dollars in cash ; that the institution is entirely ^/m of debt; 
and that I have ])assed over to my successor in office, in cash, property 
and accounts, $'22,036*54, for which I hold his receipt." 

Mr. Pilsbury then moved to Albany, on the in- 
vitation of the commissioners appointed by the 
legislature of the state of New York to construct 
a penitentiary. He engaged with them in that 
enterprise, and when the buildings there were 
so far completed as to allow the confinement of 
prisoners therein, was, without solicitation on his 
part, unanimously appointed by the city and county 
authorities its superintendent for three years, with 
almost unlimited powers. 

The commissioners, the city and county of Albany, 
and the state of New York at large, are much in- 
debted to J\Jr. Pilsbury for the prosperous prosecution 
and consummation of a design, which, although in 
one sense local, was intended to produce, and is 
effecting, a revolution in the prison management of 
the whole state. It is the pioneer of a new system 
which will ultimately prevail throughout that great 
commonwealth. 

In relation to this subject, a distinguished indivi- 
dual, whose life has been devoted to the study of 
prison discipline, not only in his own but in foreign 
lands, and who has personally inspected and seen 
all the prisons of any note in Europe as well as those 
of America, remarks : 



398 AMOS PILSBURY. 

" It will make a difference of a million of dollars, in my opinion, to the 
state of N(nv York, whether Mr. Pilshiiry's sorviees are sccnred as a 
prison keeper lor that state or not. His high (|iiahlications woulrl be of 
great consequence in the first place to the county of Albany, and through 
the county of Albany as the great centre, to all the other counties of the 
state." 

Mr. Pilsbnry is now at the head of the Albany- 
institution, having recently been reappointed for a 
second term. With the citizens of that important 
capital he is extremely popular. The benevolence 
and philanthropy of his character are known and 
felt in every community of which he has been a 
member. The authorities of Albany with a wise 
discrimination appreciate his value, as has been 
evinced by two consecutive, unanimous and unso- 
licited appointments of three years each to the 
station he holds, and on the last occasion by a 
large and voluntary addition to his salary. These 
acts, among a people distinguished above others for 
the bestowment of office entirely on political grounds 
and for political considerations, are high evidences 
of his worth. Men of all parties have united in 
paying tribute to his talents, and nothing could be 
more deplored by them than the loss of his ser- 
vices. Mr. Pilsbury on his part has fully recipro- 
cated this feeling of attachment and confidence 
by declining several advantageous offers from other 
quarters. 

He is now in his forty-fifth year, in robust health, 
with a fair prospect, in this respect, of ability for 
future usefulness. His personal appearance and 
manners are highly prepossessing. None can ap- 
proach him without soon being conscious of the 
presence of a superior man. 




ELTON R. SMILIE. 399 



ELTON E. SMILIE. 

^HE subject of this sketch was born August 
"I 17th, 1820, at South Reading, Massachu- 
setts. He is descended on his father's side, 
from an ancient Scotch family. His maternal 
ancestors were Enghsh. Doctor David Sniilie,*^ 
his grandfather, was born at Dunstable, New 
Hampshire, in 1759. After completing his medical 
education, Dr. David settled in Peterboro', New 
Hampshire, where he has been engaged in success- 
ful practice down to the present time, gaining more 
than usual celebrity in the treatment of chronic 
complaints. And although now fairly entered upon 
the last stage towards the final completion of his 
century of life, he remains hale and hearty in the 
full enjoyment of all his faculties, which he still 
holds capable of improvement under the patronage 
of a retentive memory. 

John Smilie, the father of Dr. Elton, was born in 
1791, and was the third child of his parents. He 
early exhibited a strong taste for mechanics, which 
he has since pursued in many of its departments 
with success. And notwithstanding the trials and 
disappointments attending the life of an invalid, he 
has been enabled to secure a competence with the 
esteem of his fellow townsmen. Dr. Elton R. 
Smilie, his son, received his early education in the 
public schools and junior departments of the Baptist 
seminary, then in successful operation in his native 
place, under the charge of Professor Stevens, and 
Messrs. Heath and Carter, and designed to prepare 
students for the ministry. He afterwards continued 
his preparatory studies alternately at Hancock, New 
Hampshire, and his native village. When pro- 
nounced competent by his instructors, to enter the 

* The original way of spelling his name was Smellie. 



400 ELTON R. SMILIE. 

sophomore class, he was induced to forego his colle- 
giate course and commence at once the study of 
medicine, as that was the profession he intended to 
follow. 

He accordingly entered his name with his grand- 
father, completing his professional studies under the 
tuition of Professor McClintock, now of the Phila- 
delphia college of medicine, and received his degree 
in course at the Castleton medical college, when 
entering upon his twenty-second year. Immediately 
after his graduation he commenced the practice of 
medicine in Derry, New Hampshire, and continued 
his residence there three years, daring which time 
he made many valuable improvements in surgical 
instruments,, among which may be enumerated his 
needle for closing up cleft palates, seton and autop- 
sical needles, obstetrical instruments, &c. These 
inventions have gained for him a high reputation 
for insenuitv, both at home and abroad, with the 
compliments of many distinguished members of the 
profession. 

He also perfected a method for producing artificial 
petrifaction, which can be practically applied to 
remove one of the strong objections to city burials; 
and fro^i its powerful qualities as an antiseptic, 
when free from mechanico-chemical combination, 
it is susceptible of being made useful in a variety of 
ways. From Derry he removed to Northampton, 
Massachusetts, hoping that a change of air and 
scenes might restore his health, which had become 
gradually undermined from fatigue and over anxiety 
attendant upon his duties. But from the unfavorable 
character of the season selected for the change, he 
soon became so reduced in health as to be obliged 
for a time to renounce practice altogether. After 
leaving Northampton he suffered from a long con- 
tinued attack df typhus fever. On his recovery he 
again engaged in the practice of his profession in 
Boston, Massachusetts, where he still resides. 



ELTON R. SMILIE. 401 

While a resident of Derry, Dr. E. R. Smilie, claims to have been the 
first discoverer of the anaesthetic property of ether, from its administra- 
tion in combination with opium. But laboring under the impression 
that insensibility was produced through the agency of the drug, by being 
brought in direct contact with the circulating fluid from the elasticity of 
the vapor employed, he overlooked in a measure the true cause, and 
attributed the novel effect to the combination, which he immediately 
described to his medical friends. 

In the spring of 1846, being engaged in conversation with J. Clough, 
M. D., upon the advantage that would be derived from painless surgical 
operations, he recommended the use of the above combination he had 
previously tried, to aid in the extraction of teeth. But from the then 
apparent hazard likely to be incurred by the experiment, it was not ven- 
tured upon until the succeeding fall, when Dr. S. published in the Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal, for October, 1846, an account of its cftect 
upon the animal system. And on the thirteenth of November, the mouth 
succeeding, sold his right and title to the discovery to W. T. G. Morton, 
who has since claimed to be tiie original discoverer. 

The numerous friends of Dr. Smilie claim that the earliest ajjplication 
of ether combined with opium, was made by him in 1844, although no 
account of it was published at the time. A written statement, however, 
concerning it was subsequently given by Dr. Alvah Blaisdell, a well 
known dentist of Boston, and which fully substantiates the claim. At 
the same period, another statement, corroborative of the same facts in all 
their essential particulars, was made by Dr. John Clough, a dentist well 
known in Boston. 

As heretofore remai-ked, the first printed announcement of the dis- 
covery of the application of ether in surgical operations was made in 
Boston by Dr. E. R. Smilie, and it attracted great attention in the medi- 
cal world. It was communicated by him, and published in the Boston 
Medical Journal of October 28, 1846. 

In November, 1846, the next month after the above announcement 
was made. Dr. Smilie, who had been advised to take out letters patent 
for this discovery, sold out his interest to W. T. G. Morton ; with the 
stipulated agreement, however, that the right to use it in his own prac- 
tice should be reserved to Dr. Smilie, as will be seen by the contract, of 
which the following is a copy. 

^^ Whereas, E. R. Smilie, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and state 
of Massachusetts, has alleged that he has heretofore applied an ethereal 
solution of opium, (by inhalation,) in sm-gical operations, and has made 
application for a patent therefor and has assigned his interest tlierein, 
and in the discovery, so far as it is susceptible of being secured by a 
patent; now, therefore, in consideration thereof, I, W. T. G. Morton, 
do hereby license and empower the said E. R. Smilie to use the said 
ethereal solution of opium, (as set forth in his specification for a patent,) 
in the sm'gical operations of his practice. 

In witness whereofj I have hereunto set my signature and seal, this 
thirteenth day of November, A. D., 1846. 

(Signed,) W. T. G. MORTON. [Seed.] 

fVitness, Caleb Eddy." 

On the 17th of May, 1848, Dr. Smilie delivered an address before the 
class of the Castleton medical college, " on the history of the original 
application of anaesthetic agents." This was done in accordance with 
the invitation of the professors of that excellent institution ; and was 
afterwards published at their request and that of the class. 

51 



402 



FORDYCE HITCHCOCK. 




FOllDYCE HITCHCOCK. 

Child! in whose rejoiciiig heart 
The cradle scene is fresh — the lulling hymn 
Still clearly echoed; when the blight of age 
Withereth that bosom, where thy head doth lay — 
fVilt thou forget') Wilt tlioii be wcunj! 

^HAT a scene of moral beauty is beheld 
when a child is seen administering to the 
, . . comforts of his aged parents. And with 
:^ truth has it been said, "I defy you to show me 
^^ a son that has discharged his duty to those who 




FORDYCE HITCHCOCK. 403 

cherished him in infancy, who ever permanently- 
failed in the honest and laudable pursuits of life." 

The subject of this sketch affords an admirable 
illustration of the truth of the above remark. Now 
a prosperous merchant of New York, his aged pa- 
rents, an impotent brother, and a maiden sister, 
have long found in him, alike a staff to old age, and 
a support in affliction. 

Mr. Hitchcock was born at Danbury, in the state 
of Connecticut; and being one of a large family of 
children, was early thrown upon his own resources, 
both for his support and education. Many were the 
hardships he underwent; but he persevered through 
them all, and in the darkest hours, he ever "looked 
towards the light." 

In 1842, he removed to New York city, and in 
the following year, he became manager's assistant 
in the American Museum. In this capacity he 
served for eight months, after which, on the depart- 
ure of Mr. Barnum, the proprietor, for Europe, he 
assumed the entire management of the concern. 

His quick and ready judgment enabled him to 
see, at a glance, the result of everything connected 
with his business, together with all its various bear- 
ings; and seeing them, his untiring energy and 
indomitable perseverance carried through every 
measure he adopted, and brought in a golden har- 
vest to the treasury of that establishment. 

On his retirement from the Museum, he carried 
with him the best wishes as well as the most hearty 
sympathies of every person connected with it, as 
was attested by the presentation to him, by the 
wealthy proprietor and employees, of a service of 
splendid silver plate. 

As a merchant, his habits of industry, and urba- 
nity and benevolence can not fail of ensuring suc- 
cess. 



404 SAMUEL GREGG. 




SAMUEL GREGG. 

" Oh, if people would take as much pains to do good as they take to 
do evil — if even the well-disposed were as zealous in the beneficence, as 
the wicked are energetic in doing wrong — what a pleasant little clod this 
earth of ours would be for us human crickets to go chirping about from 
mornmg till night!" 

OCTOR GREGG, a man who has lived 
more for others than for himself, was born 
at New Boston, New Hampshire, in 1799, 
of respectable parentage. His father, a man of 
more than ordinary endowments, and a great 
mechanical genivis, was of Scotch-Irish ances- 
try. 

His son, the subject of this sketch, was left moth- 
erless at a very early period, he being the youngest 
of six children. In his boyhood he gave indications 
of great powers, and in this respect the expectations 
of his friends have not been disappointed. The com- 
munity in which he has lived, and among whom he 
has acted so well his part, and has become so ex- 
tensively known as a highly respectable practitioner 
of both schools, will readily award him this meed 
of praise, for his energetic efforts in furtherance of 
the public weal. The point on which turned his 
literary and useful career, was an accident by which 
one of his lower limbs was severely fractured, and 
which disabled him for a more laborious occupa- 
tion. 

He received an academical education preparatory 
for college ; but having arrived at that age when 
the energies of the mind should be put forth in the 
pursuit of some useful profession, he directed his 
attention to the study of medicine. He received his 
medical degree at Dartmouth college. New Hamp- 
shire, in the autumn of 1824. He then entered 
upon a career of allopathic practice at Medford, a 
few miles from Boston, Massachusetts, where for 



SAMUEL GREGG. 405 

about fifteen years he has enjoyed a very extensive 
practice. 

In 1837, he formed an acquaintance with Doctor 
Vandenburgh of the city of New York, then pre- 
eminently before the public as a setter forth of the 
new theory of homaeopathy ; and from the favorable 
impression which Doctor Gregg then received of the 
utility of the new school theory in the healing art, 
he has indefatigably devoted his time and abilties 
in the practice and propagation of the new school 
doctrines ; and from the first adoption of his favorite 
system, maintains his opinions which no sophistry 
of the old school men can shake, although for 
nearly a year, he was the sole advocate of his 
adopted theory. He has thus practically sustain- 
ed the correctness of the principle, amid the jeers, 
and ridicule of his professional cotemporaries, until 
he has now attained to an enviable distinction 
in the medical profession. His professional atten- 
tion has ever been equally assiduous, or even greater 
to those unable to compensate him for his services, 
than to those who are afiluent, on the philanthropic 
principle, that the poor are less able to be sick. In 
politics, he has always been a staunch, but retiring 
advocate for the Jeffersonian principle of freedom of ' 
thought, and equality in privilege, but, a contemner 
of all political demagogues of whatever name, or 
party. Doctor Gregg was married to Miss Ruth 
Wadsworth Richards, daughter of Mr. Luther Rich- 
ards of New Boston, New Hampshire, and from this 
union, sprang ten children. From this number, six 
survive, one son, and five daughters. The mantle 
of the father has not fallen upon the son in the 
choice of a profession. Samuel Wadsworth Gregg, 
choosing for himself the pursuit of a mercantile 
course, as one more congenial to his taste, and af- 
fording a greater scope to the more than ordinary 
aptitude which he exhibits in the counting room 
He is a young man having entered his 22d year, o 



406 WILLARD IVES. 

fine exterior, and possessing that urbanity of man- 
ners, which will give him currency in any rank of 
society. Doctor Gregg is not unmindful to the 
Giver of all good, that He has given him a happy 
family of children, rich in endowment of mind, and 
person, giving the cheering prospect, that as they 
go onward, fufilling the great purpose of life, they 
will descend to the grave, leaving a stainless repu- 
tation worthy the memory of their progenitors. 



WILLARD IVES, 

,^^^F Watertown, Jefferson county. New York, 
^fwMi ^^ ^ man whose history, simple and unpre- 
^^^&^ tending, is identical with that of a large 
^^ class of the most useful members of society. 
>W He is, in the best sense of the word, a farmer. 
Blessed with a competence which places him 
beyond the apprehension of want, the owner of 
extensive and valuable farming lands lying contigu- 
ous to the flourishing village of Watertown, he 
prosecutes the occupation of agriculture Avith his 
own hands, thus giving a practical repudiation to the 
anti-republican assumption, that labor is degrading, 
and at war with true dignity. That the sympathies 
of Mr. Ives are preeminently with the producing 
classes, is evidenced, not, as in too many instances, 
by mere empty professions, but by the high force of 
practical example. 

The subject of this notice is of New England ex- 
traction. His grand-father, Mr. Jotham Ives, born 
in Cheshire, Connecticut, in 1743, removed, early 
in life to Torrington, Litchfield county, where he 
spent his days, almost exclusively, in agricultural 
pursuits. His third son, Titus, was born in Decem- 
ber, 1778. In 1801, (at the early age of twenty- 



WILLARD IVES. 407 

three) Titns Ives removed to Watertown, New York, 
and selected the lands now occupied by the subject 
of this notice, which he made his permanent home. 
The fertile and wealthy region now known as the 
black river country, was, at that time an unknown 
wilderness; and to Mr. Ives belongs the credit of 
having been one of the pioneers by whose persever- 
ance and energy ; pleasant fields and thriving villa- 
ges have been carved out of that unbroken wilder- 
ness. 

Willard Ives, the subject of this notice, was born 
July 7, 1806, at the place of his present residence. 
He was limited in the means of education to the 
indifferent common schools aftbrded by a new 
country, and, in the humble district school-house, 
(with the exception of a short time spent at an 
academy in LowvJlle,) his education was com- 
menced and completed. He was married Decem- 
ber 27th, 1827. Devotedly attached to the faith 
and discipline of the Methodist denomination of 
Christians, he was selected, in 1846, by the Black 
River conference, to represent them in the World's 
convention, held that year in London. In the dis- 
charge of the duty so assigned him, he visited 
Europe, and spent much of the year 1846 abroad. 
After his return, he was chosen president of the Jef- 
ferson county agricultural society, a position for 
which his close attention to agricultural science 
has peculiarly qualified him, and the duties of which 
he has discharged with marked ability. 

In 1848, his friends presented his name to the 
public as a candidate for congress. He was always, 
from his earliest political action, strongly attached 
to the principles of the democratic party; and like 
the great mass of that party, in this state, found 
himself unable to concur in the recommendations 
of the Baltimore convention. The county of Jef- 
ferson, forming the 19th congressional district, is of 
doubtful political complexion, having been, for the 



108 CHARLES P. BRONSON. 

last ten years, represented more than one half of the 
time by a whig member. In the campaign of 1848 
the supporters of General Cass for the presidency 
drew off from the old democratic organization in the 
county about two thousand votes ; and yet, with this 
great defection, such was the popularity of Mr. Ives, 
that he came within less than three hundred votes 
of defeating his whig competitor. 

As Mr. Ives is still in the prime of life, being only 
forty-two years of age, a long career of usefulness 
and honor is undoubtedly before him. 



«♦»<►» 





CHARLES P. BRONSON. 

^ LADY, well acquainted with the circum- 
;J' stances, has furnished us with the follow- 
ing interesting sketch of this distinguished 
gentleman, whose name, as the originator of 
a new system of elocution, is familiar to the 
learned, not only in this country, but in Europe. 

" It is not my design to detain the reader with a long account of the 
tirst buttons that were made, their substance, form or color. I will re- 
late a simple story, which may wound the pride of some, Avho have 
nothing to recommend them but their ancestors and worldly wealth, 
and which may animate the hearts of others, who have nothing to de- 
pend on but their own efforts, and that benificent Being, who always 
helps those who help themselves. The hero of tliis little tale first opened 
his eyes upon this delightful world, in a beautiful country town, in the 
land of steady habits, with a silvery lake laving tlie base of the hill on 
which it is situated. His father was a merchant, who conducted his 
business with great prudence and economy, being satisfied with small 
and certain profits. When Charles was about three years old, a destruc- 
tive flood reduced his father to poverty ; bvU being of that class of men, 
who are not easily discouraged by apparent misfortune, he i)urchased 
a small farm, and with the labor of his hands paid for it. When Charles 
was about fourteen years of age, the fatiier thougiit to imj)rove his out- 
ward fortune by exchanging his little farm for a much larger one, in 
that part of Ohio then called New Connecticut. In 1816, he moved 
with his liiniily of three children to the West; which was at that time 
considered nearly out of the world — Charles travelled the whole dis- 
tance, 700 miles, on foot, driving a flock of sheep and nine cows. Tho 



CHARLES P. BRONSON. 409 

section of land having been purchased without previous examination, 
was found to be some distance from any house or road. 

Nothing daunted, however, the family soon raised and covered a log 
house, and the father and son commenced clearing tlie land for cultiva- 
tion. The reader may judge of the lonely situation of the family, when 
informed that Charles often heard his mother say, " it is now several 
months since I have seen the face of a woman." After thi'ee years spent 
in chopping with his own hands, thirty or forty acres of very heavy 
timbered land, and assisting in clearing off seventy-five, interspersed 
with hunting, and other incidents of western life, young Charles began 
to feel an insatiate thirst for knowledge, which the wilderness could not 
afford; and in the middle of December, 1819, being only seventeen 
years of age, he bade farewell to all who were dear to him on earth, 
shouldered his knapsack, and started for New England, with only eight 
dollars to carry him eight hundred miles, and through college. He 
traveled through almost unbroken forests for three days. We will not, 
however, detain the reader with a description of his long and dreary 
journey over mountains, wading rivers, escapes from savage beasts, or 
savage men. In February, he found himself one hundred and fifty miles 
from his destination, (which was Green Mountain state,) with only sixty- 
three cents in his pocket. 

He was now in the western part of Massachusetts. Knowing that 
this sum was insufficient to defiay his expenses to his uncle's in Ver- 
mont, with whom he expected to prepare for college, he felt no small 
degree of solicitude. But he remembered " the widow's cruise of oil, 
and barrel of meal," mentioned in the good book. He also thought of 
the anecdote of the sailor boy when he became dizzy in reefing the 
sails, "look aloft." He betook himself earnestly to prayer. ^His spirit 
was tranquilized. Light seemed poured upon his path in floods, and he 
went on his way rejoicing, being fully pursuaded that the Lord will help 
them that help themselves. He had not proceeded far in his day's journey, 
before he overtook a young man, \vho had been getting a pair of panta- 
loons cut, but by some means had foi'gotten to get buttons. Thought 
our young traveller, " now is the time to replenish my purse." He cast 
his eyes upon a coat of three years service, which was double bi-easted, 
and said to hinjself, " now if I can sell him these buttons for twenty- 
five cents, that sum, with what I have, will carry me through. He asked 
his companion, in true yankee style — " Well sir, what will you give me 
for the buttons on my coat?" On examining them, the young man 
replied, " a quarter of a dollar." " Agreed," said Charles, and with his 
jack knife he cut off" the buttons, and handed them over. 

"Toward night our young adventurer was overtaken by a i)eddler, who 
kindly invited him to ride in his sleigh. He accepted the invitation with 
grateful acknowledgement, as he was quite lame from having frozen his 
feet in crossing the Alleghany mountains. Having no buttons on his 
coat, he was obliged to hold it together with his hands. The jjcdlar, as a 
matter of course, inquired all about Chai-les and his business ; whence 
he came and whither he was going ; to all which questions satisfactory 
answers were given. Observingwyoung Ciiarles's position, he asked what 
liad become of the buttons on his coat. This question was a poser to the 
lad. He liked not to talk of his poverty, and he plunged again into a 
i-ecital of the incidents of western life. He told wolf stories, and deer 
and bear stories; and ended by telling of killing a bear with an axe, with 
his own hand ; which actually occurred a short time before he left home. 
He, with some young companions, had wounded a bear, and followed it 

52 



410 CHARLES P. BRONSON. 

the greater part of a day. Toward night, he gave his rifle to one of his 
associates, (all of whom refused to follow the bear,) and taking an axe, 
plunged into a thicket where they expected Bruin might be. lie had not 
penetrated far into the marsh, when, jumping over a veiy large old tree, 
the bear rose to receive him, with one of those affectionate embraces, 
which are so unwelcome to the hunter. There seemed to be but a step 
between him and death. He voluntarily threw his old cap before the in- 
furiated beast, who instantly caught it, and he buried the axe in the 
animal's skull ! 

" But this thrilling story did not save him ; the agonizing question was 
again jjut by the peddler, and Charles felt obliged to tell his story. It 
melte«l the heart of liis auditor. Tears trickled down his weather beaten 
face, and for a few moments both were silent. They soon came to the 
place of separation. Charles jumped out of the sleigh and thanked the 
man lor liis kindness, and was about to proceed on his journey, when the 
peddler called to liim to stop, and take something he held out to him, say- 
ing, " Take these, and get the woman where you stop, to sew some on 
your coat, and sell the rest." The present was a large gross of buttons. 
He arrived at the end of his journey with as much money as when he 
met the peddler; having paid his expenses in buttons. 

"He had also buttons enough for himself, and several others, till he got 
through college. He was particular to inquire the name of his beiielac- 
tor. It was Oliver Kellogg, of Lancsboro', Massachusetts, who, if alive, 
doubtless rememl)ers the circumstance. This was the beginning of the 
j'oung man's good fortune. He completed liis college course and entered 
on a long career of usefulness. He is now probably as well known to 
the American public as any man of his age. Tliousands have listened, 
entranced, at his lectures, to his eloquence, and thousands have blessed 
God that he was ever born — the writer of this being one of the happy 
nund)er. 

" It api)ears from accomits published afterwards, that Prof. Bronson 
met his early friend in the town of Lee, Massachusetts ; and Mr. Kellogg's 
generosity having led him into bad company, he became a drunkard, but 
the Washingtonians raised him to the dignity of a man again.* 

Among other works, Professor Bronson has pub- 
lished a large octavo volume on Elocution or Mental 
and Vocal Philosophy; uniting the principles of 
reading and speaking, as designed for the develop- 
ment and cultivation of both body and mind, in 
accordance w^ith the nature, uses and destiny of 
man, illustrated with several hundred engravings. 
This popular work has reached its thirtieth edition. 

* 111 the summer of 1844, wlieu Mr. Bronson was lecturinfr jl Willinms College, he had the 
pleasure of heading a subscription to procure some clothes tor Mr. Kellogg's family, thus pay- 
ing for the buttons four.lold. ' 







A/^a^Tir^C/C -^'0' 




HOMER BOSTWICK. 411 



HOMER BOSTWICK, 

I'OW a surgeon of distinction in New York 
city, was born on the 25th of October, 1806, 
in the town of Edinburg, Ohio. His first 
^ progenitors in the United States were John and 
^ Arthur Bostwick, brothers, who arrived here 
from England, and who settled in the town of Strat- 
ford, Connecticut. John removed from Stratford to 
New Milford, and was the second white inhabitant 
who, with his family, made that village a place of 
residence. He had seven sons. His third son, 
Ebenezer, was the father of five sons. The fourth 
son of Ebenezer, Edmund, had eleven sons, of whom 
the youngest, Heman, was the father of Homer, the 
subject of this sketch. Heman was among the first 
who went into the western country, and settled in 
the town of Edinburg. But he did not long sojourn 
in his new abode. Soon after the birth of Heman, 
his fourth son, he returned to Hinesburg, Vermont, 
where he still resides. He is by trade a house car- 
penter. He has been unfortunate in consequence 
of unavoidable calamities, such as the burning down 
of his house three times. His narrow circumstances 
prevented him from giving his son other than a 
common country-school education. 

" Dr. Homer Bostwick manifested at a very early age a decided predi- 
lection for anatomical pursuits. Whenever there happened to be a chicken 
killed, this juvenile disciple of Esculapius, if the feathered biped could 
be laid hands upon, would hide it away to dissect it with his pen-knife. 
When seveii years old, he declared his intention to be a doctor. He 
remained with his father, working al)out the farm, until he was twelve. 
He then went to live with his imcle, Robert, a lawyer, in Vergennes. 
While there he attended school for two years. His father then wished 
him to enter a cloth manufactory, and acquire tlie trade. Homer went 
with much reluctance ; but after the lapse of a year, could not be per- 
suaded to remain longer. He then obtained a clerk's place in a country 
store, but soon went back to the farm. One day, while engaged in 
hoeing potatoes where the ground was very hard, he suddenly threw 
away his implement of labor, exclaiming, " There, Mr. Hoe ! I've done 
with you forever. I'll go and be a doctor." The next night, to make 



412 HOMER BOSTWICK. 

good his word, he set out for tlie town of Whitehall. The weather was 
very incleiiiciit. His father did all in his power to prevent him from 
carryinjf his boyish resolution into effect; but in vain. He accompanied 
his son several miles on the road, at times weeping, and trying to per- 
suade him to return. The boy's answer to his remonstrances was, " I 
am sorry to grieve you, father; l)ut I must go and seek my fortune. Pray, 
go home, and let me go my own way. I'll take care of myself In a few 
years, if God spares my life, you shall hear that I have been successful ; 
and I will then come home and see you, and you shall share with me all 
my earnings. So, bid me good-bye, and let us part." The old man ai 
last bade his son farewell, and turned homeward. The youth, with a 
light, though sorrowful heart, traveled stoutly onward. 

He was at that period about sixteen years old. Walking all night 
thi'ough the mire and niud, he reached Vergennes early on the next 
morning. His funds consisted of precisely fifteen ceiits; his ward-robe 
of one shirt, besides the garments that he wore. His breakfast he owed 
to a hospitable farmer. After this one meal he trudged onward till night, 
when, overpowered with fatigue, he asked for and obtained lodgings at 
a small plank house by the way-side, for which, with his suyiper, he was 
charged in the morning the sum of three shillings. On making knoAvn, 
however, that his whole woi-ldly wealth consisted of fifteen cents, he was 
told by his hostess to give her that, and be off for a vagabond. He 
offered his single shirt in addition, but that was refused. When he 
arrived at Whitehall, he was very hungry and weary — destitute of 
money, friends or recommendation. Quite at a loss what to do, he ven- 
tured at last to inquire of the keeper of a groceiy store, if he did not want 
a boy. After telling his name and adventures, he succeeded in interest- 
ing the grocer, who took him and treated him kindly. In this situation 
he remained long enough to procure for himself a suit of clothes and 
sufficient money to take him down to Troy. There he applied for 
employment to Mr. Pierce, w]io was the landlord of the best hotel in the 
place, and fortunately with success. After working here lor several 
months at small wages, he was told by a companion that he could be 
much better jjaid if he would go on board one of the North river steam- 
boats. Accordingly he hired as a hand on a boat commanded by Captain 
Cruttenden ; but not liking his occupation, he left it, and went to Hudson. 
While there he made the acquaintance of a dentist by the name of 
Parsons." 

" One day, while witnessing operations on teeth, he inquired of Mr. 
Parsons if he could )iot do tlie same; adding also, that he had long been 
desirous of studying medicine, and thought, as he had a great aptitude for 
mechanics, he might learn to be a good dentist, and thus enable himself 
to acquire the j)rofessiou of a doctor. IMr. Parsons gave him some in- 
struction and sold him some necessary instnmients; and the next we 
hear of our adventurer is that he was established as a dentist in Court- 
land street. New York, where he continued in the i>ractice of dentistry, 
with excellent success, until May, 1830, when he entered the office of Dr. 
Kearney Rogers, as a student of medicine, being obliged at the same 
tinae to obtain his livelihood by the operation of dental surgery. After 
remaining there for a year and a half, he letl. Soon afterwards he en- 
tered the office of Dr. Brownlee, who furnished him with the recjuisite 
certificate of his having entered as a student of medicine, on tlie ii8d 
December, 18Ji2, and continued there until the 1st of March, 1837: and 
that he had also attended a full course of lectures at the New York col- 
lege of physicians and surgeons. 



HOMER BOSTWICK. 413 

" After receiving liis dipolonia, he commenced the regular practice 
of medicine in tJie city of New York, on the 15th day of April, 1837, 
where, until the present time, his efforts have been attended with the 
most brilliant success. The little fortune he had accumulated as a den- 
tist, was unluckily (or, perhaps, luckily, as the event has proved,) wasted 
in uprotitable speculations, into which the shrewdest of men are apt to 
be drawn ; and thus he found himself, when on the threshold of his 
laboriously acquired profession, as utterly without pecuniary ineans, as 
when he left his father's house, and breasted the tough billows of life 
alone. He had, moreover, just become united to the daughter of Henry 
M. Western, Esq., an eminent lawyer at the New Yoi-k bar. He was 
thus supplied with a double motive for effort and exertion. He was 
moreover, ambitious, determined, courageous. Not content with falling 
into the ordinary routine of the profession, and acquiring a competence 
by slow and tedious degrees, he resolved to strike out a new and inde- 
pendent path. Thus was he induced to commence in Chambers street, 
that useful and excellent dispensary, now situated at 504 Broadway, 
which has become so well and so favorably known as the New York 
Medical and Surgical Institute. There he dispensed advice and medi- 
cines to the poor gratis, and thither numerous wealthy patients soon re- 
sorted. After taking the advice of several friends of high character, he 
was at length induced, notwithstanding the implied prohibition of the 
faculty, for the laudable purpose of making the benefits of his dispensary 
widely known, to advertise its establishment and existence in the public 
papers. This he did, with the sanction and under the patronage of such 
men as the Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, the Rev. Edward Y. Higbee, the 
Rev. Dr. W. C. Brownlee, the Rev. Dr. George Potts, Dr. E. Spring, and 
Dr. David L. Rogers, consulting surgeons.* 

Like several other physicians and surgeons of high celebrity, among 
whom we may mention the gifted Dr. Ricord of Paris, Dr. Bostwick has 
turned his attention, in a great measure, towards the treatment of that 
certain class of diseases which makes many patients victims of quacks 
and impostors. Impressed with the idea of the vast good to be effected, 
and the mighty relief thereby to be afforded to suffering and sinning 
humanity. Dr. Bostwick has profoundly studied the subject, and evolved 
new principles and facts of vital importance. 

He has written and published two books, the one a popular treatise, 
and the other a scientific work, which have already elicited the warmest 
encomiums from laymen and medical critics. The one is a duodecimo 
volume, treating of seminal complaints, their causes and cure— and the 
other an elegant quai'to, on the diseases of the genito-urinary organs, 
profusely illusti-ated with magnificently colored plates, and entitled to a 
prominent place in the library of every physician. Of the latter, Dr. J. 
V. C. Smith, the learned editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- 
nal, speaks in terms of just and cordial conuneudation. 

As a man, the character of Dr. Bostwick is ex- 
cellent. He is honorable, honest, and high princi- 
pled ; kind and generous to the poor ; a member of 

* The acquirements, proficiency and great skill of Dr. Homer Bostwick, have long been ac. 
knowledged, both by numerous patients and the most distiinguished members of the medical 
profession. In conclusive evidence of this may be mentioned the recommendation of several 
of the most celebrated, long established, learned and able physicians and surgeons in our 
city, whose names were voluntarily and freely appended tq a card, urging the appointment 
of Dr. Bostwick as physician to the city prison. 



414 ' E. A. KITTREDGE. 

the Christian church, and a friend of literature. 
He is rapidly acquiring a fortune by his profession, 
and well deserves even higher success than he has 
achieved. 

Doctor Bostwick, unlike so many others, while 
advancing in his own career, has ever had an eye 
to the welfare of his fellow men ; and in so doing he 
has secured his own happiness. What a worm at 
the root of all true happiness is selfishness ! A self- 
ish man, like the dog in the manger, is neither hap- 
py himself, nor does he suffer others to be. While 
by appropriating every thing to himself, he deprives 
all around him of the sources of enjoyment, and his 
feverish anxiety to possess fills his own heart with 
wretchedness. A noble soul finds pleasure in mak- 
ing others happy ; and in enriching them he is made 
rich himself Selfishness is the great bane to hu- 
man happiness, and is the principal thing which 
the Christian religion is designed to destroy fi:om 
the human heart. Man should live for man. 




E. A. KITTREDGE. 

The gush of cool bright waters, 

Soft music to the ear, 
The laugh of beauty's daughters 

And childhood's mingle here; 
And age comes looking brighter — 

Tiie old man and his \y\th 
Walk up yon hillock lighter 

With steps of earlier life. 

R. KITTREDGE is a native of Salem, 

Massachusetts. He was born on the 31st 

of July, 1811. His father, Benjamin Kit- 

tredge, was one of eight sons, five of whom 

were physicians and surgeons, and all of them 

of considerable celebrity. 



E. A. KITTREDGE. 415 

His paternal grandfather was Dr. Jacob Kittredge 
of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, a man as much 
celebrated in his day as any in the land. 

His maternal grandfather was Jonathan Pellet of 
Woodstock, Connecticut, a somewhat distinguished 
agriculturist, who moved to Brookfield before the 
marriage of the doctor's mother. She was a re- 
markably handsome woman, and married at the 
age of seventeen. The father of Dr. Kittredge died 
from nervous fevers brought on by excessive labor 
in his profession, at the age of forty-four. His wife 
survived him only three years. 

It had been the intention of the deceased to give 
his three sons a liberal education, but like many 
other talented men, being very careless in the col- 
lection of his accounts, except for immediate wants, 
he neglected to settle with his patients as he went 
along. Owing to this, thousands of dollars were 
lost to the family by the outlawry of the debts. 

At the death of his father, the subject of this no- 
tice was only eleven years of age. Soon after that 
event he went to reside with a maternal uncle. Dr. 
Gurdon Pellet, at North Brookfield. 

After remaining with his uncle three years, he 
returned to Salem, where he shipped on board the 
brig Susan, Captain Stephen Burchmore, master, 
bound for Madagascar. After a tedious passage of 
108 days, he arrived at that port much exhausted. 
He was absent on this cruise about fourteen months, 
enduring all kinds of hardships. On his return to 
Salem, he discovered that he was just fifty dollars 
richer than when he started ! He had the usual 
green hand wages, viz: six dollars a month and 
board — and such board ! 

Previous to his voyage he spent six months with 
a Mr. Stamford of Salem, trying to learn to be a 
cabinet maker. But "the more he tried, the more 
he couldn't learn." In spite of all his labor, he 
could not make a table leg of the simplest kind. 



416 E. A. KITTREDGE. 

He planed it and squared it, and squared it and 
planed it, until the leg no longer existed, for he 
planed it all away. 

He next turned his attention to the tanning and 
currying business, but with no better success. In 
spite of all his master's shewing, he could not for 
the life of him, after the hair was off, distinguish 
the flesh side of a hide from the other. Thus fail- 
ing in about every thing he undertook, but nothing 
daunted, he, at the age of nineteen commenced the 
study of medicine with his uncle, who still lives at 
Paris in Maine ; wisely concluding that although he 
might not be able to make a table leg, he perhaps 
could in time learn to fix the broken leg of a patient. 
At the end of four years, he graduated with honor 
at Brunswick. He commenced practice at West 
Brookfield, four miles from his native place, where 
he immediately entered upon an extensive business. 
The year following, at the solicitation of friends in 
that section, he removed to Washington, Vermont. 
He subsequently removed to Dover, and finally to 
Lynn, Massachusetts, where he has resided for four- 
teen years. In Lynn he had a very extensive busi- 
ness until 1845. He then became dissatisfied with 
the drug practice, having had an opportunity to 
test the water cure treatment on a child of his 
own, in a case of the measles, and whose life was 
thus saved, after trying in vain all the remedies the 
pharmacopeia could boast. After this, he left for 
Europe, in order to examine into the hydropathic 
mode of treating diseases. In the spring of 1846, 
he returned to Lynn, since which time he has prac- 
ticed exclusively on the water cure system, and with 
extraordinary success. 

Dr. Kittredge at the age of twenty-one, married 
Miss Susan, daughter of Nicholas and Rebecca 
Smith. He has frequently said that it was owing 
chiefly to his wife that he became a hydropathist, 
for which, and her other remarkably good qualities, 



SALATHIEL ELLIS. 



417 



he feels grateful. They have had six children, four 
of whom are yet living in robust health, owing to 
their daily ablutions in cold water, in the doctors' 
opinion, the greatest, and the only needed medicine 
in the world. 




SALATHIEL ELLIS. 

AN there be more genuine satisfaction 
than to be instrumental in introducing 
modest merit to the public? for al- 
though it has been well said, that in 
this world talent will always make its 
way, yet it sometimes takes so long, that talent 
grows weary of waiting, and gives up the 
world in despair. 
Mr. Ellis is a native of Springfield, and when 
a child his father removed to St. Lawrence county. 
New York. Salathiel worked upon the farm until 
he was about fourteen years of age, during which 
time, however, his leisure hours were spent in orna- 
menting the sides of the house, or in carving figures 
with a jack knife upon the trees. He begged his 
father to permit him to be a painter, but the old 
gentleman thought this idea a visionary one. The 
youth was subsequently apprenticed to a Mr. Web- 
ster, a shoemake. At the expiration of two years, 
a traveling miniature painter, examining the rough 
drawings of young Ellis, ottered to take him with 
him and teach him to paint. To this, however, 
Webster would not agree, as his apprentice was 
earning him nearly two dollars per day. At the 
expiration of his term, not having any opportunities 
of learning at the shop, he returned to his father 
and entered the academy at Potsdam, where he 

53 



418 SALATHIEL ELLIS. 

became acquainted with R. H. Gillet, Esq., solicitor 
of the United States treasury. 

At the age of twenty- one he married, and soon 
afterwards entered into partnership with a chair- 
maker; his part of the business being to paint and 
ornament the chairs. 

About this time Mr. Gillet being brigade inspector, 
gave Mr. Ellis the colors to paint for a company 
which had obtained them as a premium. They 
were much admired, which much elevated our art- 
ist. After spending some time at the business of 
carriage and house painting, he concluded to devote 
his whole energy to portrait painting. This was in 
1834, at which time he had a wife and three child- 
ren to support. The year following, he went to 
New York city and studied with Mr. Page, the art- 
ist, during the winter. In 1839, having two addi- 
tional children, and but little improved in his pro- 
fession, he removed to Ogdensburgh, New York, 
where he remained for a considerable period with 
various success ; many times beset with difficulties, 
but always battling them with a persevering spirit. 

At length, by the advice of his friends, he in 1842, 
made New York city his permanent residence, 
where, as a cameo cutter, &c., he is universally 
admired. He is justly celebrated for the finish of his 
work, and the faithfulness of his portraitures. His 
medalion portraits in plaster are pronounced by com- 
petent judges to be equal to the first examples of 
antique art. Among the finest are those of Alston 
and Gilbert Stewart, which were modeled for the 
American Art Union; of Page, the artist, Henry 
Clay and General Taylor. Among the busts mo- 
deled by Mr. Ellis, is a superb one and the only one 
of the late Silas Wright. We rejoice that he is at 
last beginning to be properly appreciated. 



MOSES B. SMITH. 419 




MOSES B. SMITH. 

^E was born at Pittstown, New York state, 
on the 4th of Aiio^ust, 1790, from which 
place, during his infancy, his parents re- 
moved to Burlington, Otsego county. They 
were among the first settlers of that rough 
and cold region, having little or nothing to be- 
gin with, and like many other pioneers of the wil- 
derness, had to pay for their land by their own 
industry. They raised a family of nine children, 
and did all in their power to make them wise and 
happy. 

Moses had the privilege of attending a common 
school during a few months in the year, the remain- 
der of the time being devoted to the farm. He 
afterwards, during the winter months, taught school 
himself At the age of twenty he commenced the 
study of medicine, and two years afterwards was 
married. He received his diploma in 1813, and 
commenced practice at Homer, Cortland county, 
New York. In the spring of 1815, he settled in 
Chautauque, where he contracted for a piece of 
land and built a house. Here in a thinly inhabited 
wilderness country, he had an extensive practice. 
In 1818 he removed to Burlington, his native place, 
where he followed his profession for about twenty 
years, and where he held several town offices. 

Having from his youth, been of a religious turn 
of mind, he was much in the habit of studying the 
scriptures and of reading every religious book which 
came in his way. He perused most of the deistical 
works extant, but never lost his confidence in the 
Bible; and finally embraced the doctrine of the 
ultimate salvation of our entire race. He then 
commenced preaching, and becoming entirely ab- 
sorbed in the doctrines of the ministry, he sold all 



420 EPHRAIM MARSTON. 

his property and resigned his offices, resolving to 
devote his whole life to the promulgation of his 
views of the gospel; his only regret being that his 
early advantages of education did not fit him for a 
wider sphere of action. He was ordained at Bur- 
lington in 1837. Since that period, he has preached 
at numerous places, and is now engaged at Fair- 
port, Ontario county. 

Mr. Smith is now in his 59th year, and is blessed 
with fine health and a robust constitution. 




EPHRAIM MARSTON. 

i^PHRAIM Marston, was born at Falmouth, 
Maine, on the 30th of July, 1807. His 
paternal grandparent Ephraim, was a farm- 
er of much worth and respectability ; and 
perhaps the best idea which can be given of 
him, is to quote the language of one well ac- 
quainted with him, who describes him as " a man 
who was never known to have an enemy." His 
wife Anna was a woman of a very amiable disposi- 
tion. 

The father of the subject of this sketch was also 
a farmer, and much esteemed by all who had the 
pleasure of his acquaintance. He married Betsy 
Worm well, of Falmouth. By this marriage there 
were three children, one daughter and two sons. 

Doctor Marston, the youngest, was at the age of 
seven years deprived of his mother. She died on 
the Ctli of September, 1814, aged thirty-six years. 
His father subsequently married Phebe Waymouth, 
whose constant kindness fortunately supplied the 
place made desolate by the dear departed. His 
father died on the 27th of January, 1846, in his 



EPHRAIM MARSTON. 421 

seventy-ninth year. He was a sterling patriot, and 
his loss was much lamented among his large circle 
of friends. His memory will long be cherished. 

Doctor Marston is in the full sense of the word, 
a self-made man, and one who has risen chiefly by 
his own unaided exertions. Having taught school 
to defray the expenses of his tuition, he obtained 
his medical degree at Bowdoin college in 1833. 
On the 26th of December of the same year, he 
married Miss Olivia M. Waymouth. Commencing 
practice in his native place, he remained there 
until the death of his wife. She died in 1838, in 
the thirty-first year of her age, leaving two children. 

In the autumn of 1839, Doctor Marston removed 
to Boston, Massachusetts. Although a comparative 
stranger, he met with such encouragement as would 
be flattering to the oldest and most skillful phy- 
sicians. 

On the 15th of April, 1841, he married Miss Har- 
riet A. W. Philbrick, a young lady of highly respect- 
able connexions, and possessing a sound and culti- 
vated mind. 

Although Doctor Marston, like other benevolent 
men, has sustained heavy losses in accomodating 
others, he has nobly stemmed the tide of adversity; 
and in showing kindness to his fellow man, has 
himself prospered. He is a skillful physician of 
very extensive practice, and has, it is believed, few 
equals. In his character there are many amiable 
traits. His exertions in the cause of temperance 
and in restoring fallen man from want and misery 
to happiness and plenty, can not fail to ensure their 
reward. And what is more, his principles of piety 
are carried into practice; for with him true religion 
consists in visiting the widow and the fatherless, 
and pouring the balm of consolation into the hearts 
of the woful and the weary. May such men be 
multiplied in the land. 



422 E. c. o'neil 




E. C. O'NEIL, 

NATIVE of Ulster County, New York, 
was born on the 12th of September, 
1822. His father, Jamee O'Neil, em- 
igrated to this country when very 
young, and was among the first set- 
tlers of Ulster. The maiden name of 
the mother of the doctor, was Temperance 
Conklin, a member of a very old and worthy 
family of that name in Dutchess county. 
She died when he was in six years of age. The 
occupation of his father was that of a farmer, in 
which he took great delight, and in which he con- 
tinued until his death, in January, 1849, at the age 
of seventy-two. Being anxious that his sons should 
also become farmers, the subject of our sketch, 
with his three brothers, remained at home until he 
had completed his twentieth year. During this 
period he attended several winters at the Kingston 
academy, his duties in superintending the farm, 
occupying the residue of his time. Having a strong 
inclination for books, he now resolved to study a 
profession, and selected that of medicine. He 
studied in the office of O. M. Allaben, of Delaware 
county, where he soon became proud of the choice 
he had made. During the three and a half years 
he studied under Dr. Allaben, he attended three 
full courses of lectures at the University medical 
college, in New York city, where he took his 
degree of M. D. in the spring of 1845. He then 
entered a hall of pharmacy in the city, for the 
purpose of gaining a more thorough knowledge of 
that branch of the profession. He remained there 
nine months and made a great addition to his stock 
of knowledge. He shortly afterwards received the 
appointment of assistant in the Bellevue hospital, 



E. c. o'neil. 423 

one of the largest in the city. Before the expira- 
tion of his term, the ordinance of the common 
council, relative to the appointment of visiting 
surgeons and physicians, being changed, it was his 
good fortune to be placed in the surgical depart- 
ment, where he had the benefit of the valuable 
advice of Professor Willard Parker. At the expira- 
tion of the year, Dr. O'Neil accepted the post of 
assistant physician, at the lunatic asylum on Black- 
well island. On this occasion he received a very 
flatering recomendation to the common council, 
from the medical board of the asylum. His am- 
bition was now to gain a knowledge of the 
diseases of the nervous system, a class of disease 
so little understood by physicians in general. He 
was there associated with Dr. McDonald, who in 
the treatment of insanity, deservedly stands at the^ 
head of the profession. His private establishment 
for the insane, on Long Island, is very celebrated. 

In the early part of the present year, Dr. O'Neil, 
with the brightest prospects before him, resigned 
his situation at the asylum ; but shortly afterwards 
his health failing, he was strongly advised by his 
medical friends, to take a country practice. He 
has accordingly selected the beautiful village of 
Flushing, Long Island, where should he be spared, 
his success can not be a matter of doubt. 

We conclude this article with the following 
extract from the New York Sun. 

" A very interesting affair transpired on Black- 
well island, a few evenings since. The assistant 
physician of the lunatic asylum. Dr. E. C. O'Neil, 
having resigned his situation, the officers of the 
different institutions on the island, held a meeting 
to express the respect they entertained for the 
talents of Dr. O'Neil, and their estimation of his 
character as a gentleman. Mr. T. J. Marshall 
acted as chairman. Mr. W. B. Mott, on behalf 
of the meeting, then presented a very beautiful and 



424 



JOSEPH BAKER. 



valuable silver box to Dr. O'Neil, with a few 
brief and appropriate remarks. The doctor, in 
receiving the gift, responded in a very happy 
manner. The inscription on the box is, ' Pre- 
sented by the officers of the Lunatic asylum, B. I., 
to Dr. E. C. O'Neil, as a token of respect and 
esteem, January, 1849.' Personal acquaintance 
with the doctor, satisfies us that the box could not 
have been given into better hands." 



« * « » > 




JOSEPH BAKER. 

ONCORD, New Hampshire, is the native 
place of this gentleman. He was born on 
the 13th of June, 1806. He is a descen- 
dent of those who left the land of persecu- 
tion. 

When first the lonely Mayflower threw 

Her canvas to the breeze, 
To bear afar her pilgrim crew 

Beyond tlie dark blue seas. 

In early childhood his father removed to Shipton, 
Lower Canada, where he remained until his son 
was twenty-one years of age. 

Joseph from his earliest days had a strong taste 
for books and study, which, however, in that countiy 
he found very difficult to gratify. But the estab- 
lishment of a circulating library, of which his father 
was a member, aided him very much. Still, the 
means of education, and good teachers, were not to 
be obtained ; and these disadvantages the youth had 
to overcome by an unwavering perseverance. 

On arriving at manhood, he returned to the coun- 
try of his birth, and then went to Massachusetts, 
where he remained two years. It was while there 
he embraced the doctrine of universal salvation. 



JOSEPH BAKER. 425 

Losing his health, and after an absence of three 
years, he returned to the paternal roof, where he 
found a cordial welcome, and when he succeeded 
in bringing over the family to his religious idews. 

Mr. Baker prepared himself for the ministry under 
the patronage and instruction of the Rev. J. Ward. 
To this holy office he had long felt an ardent wish, 
which being gratified, he commenced preaching in 
1832, and received an ordination from the Northern 
association October 3, 1833. He then spent three 
years in preaching in Canada and the northern part 
of the United States. During this period, his early 
habits of self culture and self reliance were of great 
benefit to him. It has been said that he who spends 
years in a seminary under able teachers, may be the 
finished scholar, the erudite critic, and the profound 
theologian, but he v/ill never feel the energy, confi- 
dence of the self-made man. 

On the 12th of May, 1836, Mr. Baker married Miss 
Abzina Ward, the daughter of his patron, the Rev. 
J. Ward. In her he has found a faithful wife. 

Soon after his marriage, dissatisfied with the 
colonial government of Canada, and foreseeing the 
troubles which soon arose, he joyfully returned to 
the land of his birth, where he labored as a preacher 
in the northwestern portion of Vermont until Sep- 
tember, 1845. He thence removed to Madrid, St., 
Lawrence county, and in 1848 to Glen's Falls, 
Warren county, New York, the present field of his 
labors. 

In 1841 and 1842, Mr. Baker was a representative 
of the town of Cambridge, in the legislature of Ver- 
mont. 

His life has been one of much trial and sufferinsr, 
but he never gave way to despondency. 

And tlioii, too, wliosoe'r thou art, 

That readest this brief psalm, 
As one by one tliy liopes depart, 

Be rcsohite and calm. 

Longfellow. 

54 



'&' 




426 JOHN JENKINS AUSTIN. 



JOHN JENKINS AUSTIN, 

I.ORN on the 22d of November, 1819, is the 

son of Orramael Austin, a blacksmith. His 

mother is a sister of Dr. W. D. Purple, a 

physician of eminence now residing at 

Greece. 

John remained at home until his 18th year, 
attending school a portion of the winter, and assist- 
ing his father in the shop the remainder of the year. 

In his 19th year he entered a leather factory in 
Broome county, Maine, being wholly dependent on 
his exertions for a support. 

At twenty-one, having saved sufficient money, 
he entered Union academy in Maine, where he 
commenced the study of Latin and Greek under 
Professor Gates, then principal of the institution. 
Having taught school during the ensuing winter, 
he continued his studies in the Oxford academy, 
Chenango county, New York. His money being 
now all gone, he was compelled again to teach 
school on the following winter for the purpose of 
paying his way. 

In Slay, 1843, being in his twenty-fourth year, 
he entered upon the study of theology (continuing 
his orighial and scientific pursuits at the same 
titne,) under the care of the Rev. L. Goodrich, a 
very excellent man. 

During the next year he traveled as a lecturer on 
temperance and phrenology. 

In January of the following year, he accepted an 
invitation to settle as pastor over the Universalist 
society in Lebanon, Madison county. New York. 

On the 4th of July, the same year, he married 
Miss Fanny M. Johnson, of Triangle, Broome county, 
a highly accomplished young lady, and much es- 
teemed by a large circle of acquaintances. 



GEORGE M. DEXTER. 427 

He sustained the pastorship at Lebanon nearly 
three years in the warm embrace of affectionate 
friends. In 1846 he resigned and accepted a unani- 
mous invitation to settle as pastor in Newark, Wayne 
county, New York. 

Mr. Austin has contributed largely to several 
leading periodicals. In 1848, he published Offerings 
on Religion, addressed to the Church Universal, 
which was warmly received by that denomination, 
and extensively and favorably noticed by secular 
and religious papers in many states of the Union. 

As a preacher Mr. Austin ranks high. He is of 
medium height and of a ruddy complexion. 



< e • » >i 




GEORGE M. DEXTER. 

^T has been truly observed, that much less 
of success in life is in reality dependent upon 
accident, or what is called luck, than is gene- 
rally supposed. For more depends upon the 
objects which a man proposes to himself; what 
attainments he aspires to; what is the circle 
which bounds his visions and thoughts; what he 
chooses, not to he educated for, but to educate himself 
for; whether he looks to the end and aim of the 
whole of life, or only to the present day or hour; 
whether he listens to the voice of indolence or vul- 
gar pleasure, or to the stirring voice in his own 
soul, urging his ambition on to laudable objects. 

A pleasing illustration of the latter is afforded by 
the life of the subject of this memoir. 

Mr. Dexter is the son of Aaron Dexter, a highly 
respectable physician. After the usual preparatory 
studies, he entered Harvard college, but left while 
in his junior year. The ensuing four years he spent 
as clerk in a mercantile house, where his untiring 



428 DENNIS CHAPIN. 

industry and strict integrity won for him the respect 
of all Avith whom he was connected. He then com- 
menced business for himself but his health tailing, 
he went abroad for the purpose of recruiting it. 
Returning in the course of a year, he determined 
upon becoming a civil engineer, and with his well- 
known decision, he at once entered the office of the 
late Mr. Baldwin who was engaged in the construc- 
tion of the dry docks at Charleston and jN'ortblk. 
In the course of the three years he remained with 
Mr. Baldwin, he became perlbctly master of his 
profession. He was then engaged as assistant en- 
gineer on the Lowell rail road, and on the opening 
of the road, so highly were his services appreciated, 
that he was appointed superintendent. This situa- 
tion he subsequently resigned in order to superin- 
tend the erection of a large number of houses and 
other buildings. To this business, in connection 
with that of a civil engineer, he has devoted his 
attention for the last fourteen years, and with what 
success it is needless to state. There have been no 
striking incidents in his life, but we have selected 
him as an instance of what can be accomplished by 
a steady determined will. 



DENNIS CHAPIN. 

EYDEN, Franklin county, Massachusetts, 
was the birth place of this individual. He 
was born on the 10th of June, 1809. His 
paternal ancestor in this country, was deacon 
Samuel Chapin. who came iVom England and 
settled at Springlield, ^lassachusetts, in liU'2. 
His wife belonged to an old tamily who settled at 
an early period at Grafton, Worcester county, Mas- 
sachusetts. The father of Demiis was Elisha Cha- 




DENNIS CHAPIN. 429 

pin. He was a member of the Legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts at the revision of its constitution; and 
held a seat in the council of the state until nearly 
the close of his useful life, which occurred in 1885. 

The first ten years of the life of the subject of our 
notice, were years of physical suffering and much 
weakness ; so much so, that at the close of that 
period, he was of exceedingly small stature. 

In the summer season his father frequently carried 
him in his arms from the school house to the plow, 
and from the plow to the school house, as he desired 
his services to guide the horse between the rows of 
Indian corn. At this time he was so weak that he 
obtained permission of his teacher to study, lying 
on his back upon the floor, not being able to sit up 
during the whole of the school hours. Fortunately 
during the next five years of his life, his physical 
nature underw'ent a rapid and vigorous change. 
From the age of fifteen to twenty-four, he labored 
more or less upon the farm. While thus engaged 
it was, that his devotional feelings were aroused, and 
he loved to contemplate the beauty, grandeur and 
sublimity of nature. Thus absorbed in the most 
profound adoration, he would pray in the most fer- 
vent manner. The workmen among whom he 
labored, seeing him thus frequently lost in thought, 
would often remark to his father, " This is no place 
for him ; you ought to send him to school." The 
only effect this had was a threat from the father to 
punish Dennis, if he did not attend better to his 
work. 

At the age of twenty-one he commenced educating 
himself He subsequently passed an academical 
course at Northfield, Massachusetts, a small village 
on the east bank of the Connecticut river. He af- 
terwards entered Amherst college, Massachusetts, 
where he graduated after the usual term. 

During his collegiate life, his mind became tho- 
roughly impressed with religious things. This de- 



430 ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 

cided his future course of action, and on leaving 
college, after a short season spent in teaching school, 
he commenced the study of divinity. He was 
ordained at Wallingford, Vermont, on the 4th of 
March, 1841. Since that time he has been engaged 
in preaching in western Vermont, and on the bor- 
ders of New York. 



< * • » » 




ELIZABETH BLACKWELL, M. D. 

REGULAR physician, a professional lady, 
who has recently received a diploma, 
and who is the first medical doctor 
of her sex in the United States, is a native 
of Bristol, England, where 'she was born 
in 1820. Her father settled with his family 
in New York when she was about eleven years 
old. After a residence there of five or six years, 
he failed in business, and removed to Cincin- 
nati. A few weeks after his arrival there, he 
died, leaving his widow and nine children in very 
embarrassed circumstances. Elizabeth, the third 
daughter, was then seventeen years of age, and as- 
sisted two of her sisters in teaching a young lady's 
seminary. By the joint etforts of the elder children, 
the younger members of the family were supported 
and educated, and a comfortable homestead on 
Walnut hill was secured for the family. The pro- 
perty which, in the midst of their first difficulties, 
they had the forecast to purchase, has already 
quadrupled the price which it cost them. 

The enterprise of these young ladies is still 
further indicated, by the next steps which they 
severally took. Anna, the eldest, some years ago 
took up her residence in the city of New York, 
where she has, until lately, worked at the trade of 



ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 431 

periodical authorship, French translation, and com- 
poser of music. She is now in England, under an 
engagement with a publisher there, to translate the 
whole of Fourier's works. She was selected for 
this task for her very high ability in French transla- 
tion, and the excellence of her English style. An- 
other sister, Emily, is teaching a boy's school in 
Cincinnati, preparing them for college in the de- 
partments of mathematics and the classical lan- 
guages. And Elizabeth, after two or three years 
hard labor and study in North and South Carolina, 
and two years more, exclusively devoted to the 
study of medicine, in Philadelphia and Geneva, 
has her medical diploma in her pocket. 

About five years ago she Jfirst entertained the 
idea of devoting herself to the study of medicine. 
Having taken the resolution, she went vigorously 
to work to effect it. She commenced the study of 
Greek, and persevered until she could read it satis- 
factorily, and revived her Latin by devoting three 
or four hours a day to it, until she had both suffi- 
ciently for all ordinary and professional purposes. 
French she had taught, and studied German to 
gratify her fondness for its modern literature. The 
former she speaks with fluency, and translates the 
latter elegantly, and can manage to read Italian 
prose pretty Avell. 

Early in the spring of 1845, for the purpose of 
making the most money in the shortest time, she 
set out for North Carolina, and, after some months 
teaching French and music, and reading medicine 
with Dr. John Dickson, at Asheville, she removed 
to Charleston. Here she taught music alone, and 
read industriously under the direction of Dr. Samuel 
H. Dickson, then a resident of Charleston, and now 
professor of practice, in the university of New York. 

Two years ago she came to Philadelphia, for the 
purpose of pursuing the study. That summer. Dr. 
J. M. Allen, professor of anatomy, afforded her ex- 



432 ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 

cellent opportunities for dissection, in his private 
anatomical rooms. The winter following she at- 
tended her first full course of lectures at Geneva. 
The next summer she resided at the Blockley hos- 
pital, Philadelphia, where she had the kindest at- 
tentions from Doctor Benedict, the principal phy- 
sician, and the very large range for observation 
which its great variety and number of cases afford. 
Last winter she attended her second course at 
Geneva, and graduated regularly at the close of the 
session. On receiving her diploma she addressed 
the reverend president in these words: "I thank 
you, sir. With the help of the Most High it shall 
be the effort of my life to shed honor upon this 
diploma." Her thesis was upon ship fever, which 
she had ample opportunities for observing at Block- 
ley. It was so ably written that the faculty of Ge- 
neva determined to give it publication. 

It is in keeping with the idea of this story to add 
that the proceeds of her own industry have been 
adequate to the entire expense of her medical edu- 
cation — about eight hundred dollars. 

She recently left for Paris, with the design of 
remaining there one or two years, hoping to obtain 
there still greater facilities for the farther study of 
her profession than this country affords; especially 
in the department of surgery, which she has had 
but little opportunity to see. 

She will return when this purpose is accomplish- 
ed, to practice medicine in all its branches, and will 
probably settle in the city of Ncav York. 

It is to be hoped that her example will be follow- 
ed, and that we shall soon have a class of female 
practitioners properly qualified to attend upon their 
own sex especially, and that the modern fashion of 
employing accoucheurs will be exploded. 

The following extract from the writings of Cob- 
bett, although rather coarse, are full of sound sense 
and will be read with interest. 



ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. , 433 

" I am well aware of the hostility which I shall excite, but there is 
another subject on which my duty compels me to speak; I mean the 
employing of male-operators, on tho^ie occasions where temales used to 
be employed. And here I have every thing against me ; the now general 
custom, even amongst the most chaste and delicate woman ; the ridicule 
continually cast on old midwives; the interest of a profession, for the 
members of which I entertain more respect and regard than for those of 
any other; and, above all the rest, my own example to the contraiy, and my 
knowledge that every husband has the same aj^ology that 1 had. But 
because I acted wrong myself, it is not less, but rather more, my duty to 
endeavor to dissuade others from doing the same. My wile had suffered 
very severely with her second child, which, at last, was still-born. The 
next time I pleaded lor the doctor; and, after every argument that 1 could 
think of, obtained a reluctant consent. Her life was so dear to me, that 
every thing else appeared as nothing. Every husband lias the same 
apology to make ; and thus, from the good, and not fi"om the bad feelings 
of men, the practice has become far too general, for me to hope even to 
narrow it ; but, nevertheless, I can not refrain from giving my opinion on 
the subject. 

We are apt to talk in a very unceremonious style of our rude ancestors, 
of their gross habits, their tvant of delicacy in their language. But rude 
and unrefined and indelicate as they might be, they did not suffer, in the 
cases alluded to, the approaches of men, which appi"oaches are unceremo- 
niously suffered, by their polished and refined and delicate daughters; 
and of unmarried men too, in many cases; and of very young men. 

From all antiquity this office was allotted to ivotnan. Moses's life was 
saved by the humanity of the Egyptiaii midwife; and to the employment 
of females in this memorable case, the world is probably indebted for 
that which has been left it by that greatest of all law-givers, whose insti- 
tutes rude as they were, have been the foundation of all of the wisest and 
most just laws in all the countries of Eui'ope and America. It was the 
felloiv feeling of the midwife for the poor mother that saved Moses. And 
none but a mother can, in such cases, feel to the full and effectual extent 
that which the operator ought to feel. She has been in the same state 
herself; she knows moie about the matter, except in cases of very rai-e 
occurrence, than any man, however great liis learning and experience, 
can ever know. She knows all the previous symiJtoms; slie can judge 
more correctly than man can judge in such a case; she can put questions 
to the party, which a man can not put; the communication between tlie 
two is wholly without reserve; the person of the one is given up to the 
other, as completely as her own is under lier command. This never can 
be the case with a man-operator ; for, after all that can be said or done, 
the native feeling of woman, in whatever rank of life, will, in these cases, 
restrain them from saying and doing, before a man, even before a hus- 
band, many things which they ought to say and do. So that, perhaps, 
even with regard to the bare question of comparative safety to life, the 
midwife is the preferable person. 

But safety to life is not all. The preservation of life is not to be pre- 
ferred to everything. Ought not a man to prefer death to the conunission 
of treason against his country .'' Ought not a man to die, rather than save 
his life by the prostitution of his wife to a tyrant, who insists upon the 
one or the other? Every man and every woman will answer in the affir- 
mative to both these questions. There are then, cases when ])eople 
ought to submit to certain death. Surely then, tlie mere clutnce, the mere 
possibility of it, ought not to outweigh the mighty considerations on the 
other side; ought not to overcome that uiborn modesty, that sacred 

55 



434 ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. 

reserve as to their persons, which, as I said before, is the charm of charms 
of the female sex, and which our mothers, rude as they were called by 
us, took, we may be satisfied, the best and mo»t effectual means of pre- 
seiTing. 

But is tliere, after all, any thing real in this greattr security for the life 
of either mother or child? If, then, risk were so <rrcat as to call tipon 
women to overcome this natural repugnance to suffer the approaches of 
a man, that risk must be general; it must apply to all women; and, 
further, it must, ever since the creation of man, always have so applied. 
Now, resorting to the employment of men-operators lias not been in vogue 
in Europe more than about seventy years, and has not been general in 
England more than about thirty or forty years. So that the risk in em- 
ploying midwives must, of late years, have become vastly greater than it 
was even when I was a boy, or the whole race must have been extin- 
guished long ago. And, then, how puzzled we should be to account for 
the building of all the cathedrals, and all the churches, and the draining 
of all the marshes, and all the fens, more than a thousand years before 
the word accoucheur ever came from the lips of woman, and, before the 
thought ever came hito her mind? 

But to return ouce more to the matter of risk of life ; can it be that 
nature has so ordered it, that, as a general thing, the life of either mother 
or child shall be in danger, even if there were no attendant at all ? Can 
this be"? Certainly it can not: safety must be the rule, and danger the 
exception; this must be the case, or the world never could have been 
peopled; and, perliaps, in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, if 
nature were left wholly to herself, all woidd be right. The great doctor, 
in these cases, is, comforting, consoling, cheering up. And who can 
perform this office like woman'? who have for these occasions a language 
and sentiments which seem to have Ijeen invented for the purpose; and 
be they what they may as to general demeanor and character, they have 
all, upon these occasions, one common feeling, and that so amiable, so 
excellent, as to admit of no adequate description. They completely 
forget, for the time, all rivalships, all squabbles, all animosities, all hatred 
even ; eveiy one feels as if it were her own particular concern. 

These, we may be well asfeiired, are the proper attendants on these 
occa*sions; the mother, tlie aunt, the sister, the cousin, and female neigh- 
bor; these are the suitable attendants, having some experienced women 
to afford extraordinary aid, if such be necessary; and in the fcAV cases 
where the preservation of life demands the surgeon's skill, he is always 
at hand. The contrary practice, which we got from the French, is not, 
however, so general in France as in England. We have outstripped all 
the world in this, as we have in every thing which proceeds from luxury 
and effeminacy on the one hand, and from poverty on the other; the 
millions have been stripped of their jneans to heap wealth on the thou- 
sands, and have been corrupted in manners, as well as in morals, by 
vicious examples set them by the possessors of that wealth. As reason 
says that the practice of which I complain can not be cured without a 
total change in society, it would be presumption in me to ex-jiect such 
cure from any efforts of mine. I therefore must content myself with 
hoping that such change will come, and with declaring, that if I had to 
live my live over again, I would act upon the opinions which I have 
thought it my bounden duty here to state and endeavor to maintain." 




ALVAN CLARK. 435 



ALVAN CLARK. 

NOWN as an inventive genius, was born in 
Ashfield, in the state of Massachusetts, on 
the 8th of March, 1804, and is the fourth 
of ten children. His father was born in Har- 
wich, Cape Cod, where his ancestors had lived 
from the early settlement of the country. His 
paternal grandfather and great grandfather had 
been masters of whaling vessels. In youth his 
father was accustomed to the dangers and liard- 
ships of a sea-faring life, but at the age of twenty- 
four, he removed from the cape into the western 
part of the state where he settled as a farmer in the 
town of Ashfield. His means were limited, but his 
great industry, frugality and unwavering integrity 
gave him influence and consequence in the com- 
munity. His sound judgment and industrious 
habits made him a valuable member of society, and 
he was often employed as arbiter and adviser in the 
aftairs of others. Alvan, at the usual age, was sent 
to the district school, with an intention to qualify 
him to become a farmer. His proficiency in the 
school exercises was above mediocrity. When he 
was eight years old, his father was engaged in re- 
building a saw mill, and soon after in remodeling a 
grist mill upon a stream near the family mansion. 
The plans, deliberations and movements of the 
mill-wrights attracted his attention, and probably 
induced an early predilection to study the science 
of mechanics and the arts, which he has pursued 
with so much success. Mills, clocks, fire-arms and 
every specimen of handiwork, which came under 
his observation, were closely inspected, and the de- 
signs and ideas of the inventor readily apprehended. 
By the aid of a turning lathe, which had been 
erected for the use of an elder brother under the 



436 ALVAN CLARK. ' 

roof of the mill, and a few ordinary tools, the process 
of self-training in practical mechanics, which had 
been commenced with a jack-knife under the pater- 
nal roof, was continued with the greatest ardor. The 
father felt a laudable pride in the indications of the 
son, but his mother, a woman of great discretion 
and extensive reading, was unwilling that his at- 
tention should be diverted from agriculture. She 
was desirous that all her sons should be farmers; 
and having formed an opinion, which observation 
too often verifies, that inventive geniuses are not 
always the most successful in life, she thought to 
encourage his ingenuity would be unfavorable to 
that thrift which usually accompanies honest indus- 
try in the cultivation of a farm. She was the 
daughter of Elisha Bassett of Dennis, Cape Cod, 
whom the grandson remembers with a lively inte- 
rest. He was a man of vigorous intellect, improved 
by various and extensive reading, and was acquaint- 
ed with some of the higher branches of mathematics. 
He removed from the cape and settled in the town 
of Ashfield, where he lived to a very advanced age, 
occupied in cultivating his farm, and was frequently 
employed in surveying lands in his own and the 
neighboring towns. Notwithstanding the fears of 
his mother, Clark was determined to devote his en- 
ergies to the mechanic arts. He early discovered a 
taste for drawing, and his brother George, who was 
a youth of uncommon promise, and who died at 
the age of eighteen, when Alvan was twelve, had 
predicted that his younger brother would be a 
painter; for he had carved, with remarkable skill, 
on the smooth bark of a beech tree in the forest, the 
figure of a man in the attitude of skating. No op- 
portunity was afforded him to see good paintings; 
but engravings and the history of art ^nd artists, he 
regarded with enthusiastic admiration. His elder 
brother, Barnabas, had worked upon the farm and 
in the mills until he became of age, after which, he 



ALVAN CLARK. 437 

devoted two years in a wagon maker's shop to learn 
the trade, at which time Alvan had reached his 
eighteenth year. Their father then furnished a shop 
and tools to Barnabas, and Alvan became his ap- 
prentice. After the close of the first year, having 
gained considerable skill in the uses of the hatchet, 
saw, plane, paint-brush, and other instruments used 
in the shop, he began to think that he was destined 
for a higher pursuit. He had heard of Harding's 
fame, who was born and had friends in that part of 
the country, and was then practicing the art of por- 
trait painting in Northampton. 

Before he was nineteen, Clark abandoned his 
brother's shop, visited Hartford, where he had 
heard that engraving was carried on upon an ex- 
tensive scale, and introduced himself to several en- 
gravers, with a view of obtaining instruction, or a 
situation as assistant; but finding his means in- 
adequate to the required terms, he was obliged to 
return without accomplishing his object. But this 
journey was not without use to him, for he there 
examined the presses, plates, tools, and implements 
of the engravers studios, and had an opportunity 
of seeing the printers work, and of asking advice 
and information from masters and young men in 
these establishments. This visit strengthened that 
resolution of purpose, which was the surest presage 
of success. He procured blank plates, gravers, 
etching-wax, and requsite materials, and the in- 
formation necessary for making and using copper- 
plate ink, returned home, and commenced work as 
an engraver. Keeping emolument steadily in view, 
his first attempt was a plate for school certificates 
or rewards of merit, for juvenile members of 
country schools. After completing his engraving, 
press, and ink, his utmost endeavor to print it 
fairly, proved abortive. Another journey to Hart- 
ford, a distance of fifty miles, was performed on 
foot, and such information obtained, as enabled 



438 ALVAN CLARK. 

him to carry out his design, in the successful print- 
ing and sale of his first effort. At this juncture, 
it was deemed by himself and friends, very im- 
portant that some further instruction should be 
obtained, for without it, he could not hope to excel 
in an art, so difficult to acquire. 

He had occasionally attempted drawing and 
painting portraits from life, and in the autumn of 
1823, he visited Boston, where he formed valuable 
acquaintances, who still remain his friends and 
patrons. While in Boston he studiously applied 
himself through the winter, but his proficiency 
won no marked attention from persons critically 
versed in the objects of his pursuit. The next 
spring and summer, he endeavored to obtain em- 
ployment as a portrait and miniature painter, in 
Northampton, Albany, Troy, and at Saratoga 
Springs, but met with but little encouragement. 
He returned home again in the autumn, and 
having occasion to send to Boston for colors and 
brushes, he received them wrapped in a piece of 
newspaper, which contained an advertisement for 
engravers. Without delay, he proceecied to Boston, 
the place designated for enquiry, and found that 
they were wanted at the Merrimac print works, 
for calico engraving. He immediately went to 
Lowell, at that time a part of the town of Chelms- 
ford, where he learned that the work had been put 
under contract to Mason & Baldwin, of Phila- 
delphia, for a series of years, and that Mason 
would soon be in Lowell, to assume control in that 
department, and would want assistance. Upon 
Mason's arrival, Clark's qualifications were ex- 
amined, and he thereupon engaged as engraver, 
for the term of four years. Finding himself fairly 
settled under the instruction of an intelligent su- 
perintendent, with a prospect of gaining support 
in a respectable art, upon entering his twenty-third 
year, he married Maria, the daughter of Asher 



ALVAN CLARK. 439 

Pease, of the town of Conway, adjoining to Ash- 
field; and this connexion was the result of an 
early, mutual attachment. While employed at 
Lowell, he found that in transferring dies, where 
bold, heavy lines lie contiguous to the fine and 
delicate, the fine work will first fill, become un- 
sound, and break off' before the heavy will be 
raised. To obviate this, the usual mode had been, 
to scrape or file away the surface, wherever there 
appeared signs of overworking. Clark proposed to 
his employer, while deliberating on a case which 
gave unusual trouble, to coat all the parts upon the 
soft steel cylinder, and also the bearings or pivots 
of the cylinder, which are not inclined to fill 
readily, with asphaltum dissolved in spirits of tur- 
pentine, and after drying, to immerse the work in 
nitric acid, until the exposed parts should be duly 
reduced, after which, returning the work to the 
press, the stock would be favorably situated for 
moulding to the form of the die. This invention, 
which has proved to be of great use, and other 
suggestions and improvements of his, gained him 
credit for superior skill and ingenuity. 

Mason relinquished his undertaking at Lowell, 
at the end of the first year, and returned to Phila- 
delphia, but Clark continued, for a short time, in 
the employ of the Merrimac company. Having 
gained the confidence of Mason before he left, he 
received from him and his partner, a liberal offer 
to remove to Providence, Rhode Island, and to 
conduct a branch of their business in that place. 
After a residence of more than a year in Providence, 
he removed to New York, and was more or less 
connected with those eminent mechanicians, until 
the dissolution of their copartnership, and after- 
wards with Baldwin, for more than six years. 

The infant and fluctuating condition of calico 
printing in this country, rendered his success and 
means of support from his employment very uncer- 



440 ALVAN CLARK. 

tain. In New York he formed acquaintances with 
the most eminent artists, and his desire to become 
a painter again revived. In the summer of 1830, 
he made a miniature copy of one of Frothingham's 
line portraits of an old man. Previous to this, all 
his attempts had shown the chalky crudeness of 
the novice, but in this effort he began to perceive 
the effect of tone. He still found great difficulty in 
executing from life with the power and effect dis- 
played in this copy. He passed more than three 
years in New York, deriving a small income from 
his attention to engraving and other mechanical 
employments, upon which he depended for the sup- 
port for himself and his increasing family. He did 
not, however, neglect any opportunity which pre- 
sented for examining and studying paintings. His 
conduct as a man, and his proficiency which he 
had now made in various branches of science and 
the arts, recommended him to the attention of men 
of learning, wealth and taste, but his pecuniary 
prospects were by no means flattering. 

In the spring of 1832, he received a liberal offer 
from Andrew Robeson, to assist in the engraving 
department of his manufactory at Fall River. This 
offer he accepted and removed to that place; and 
though no patent had been sought or obtained by 
him for his invention in the improvement of trans- 
ferring dies, its great utility had now become known. 
Workmen from Manchester in England, who had 
been employed there, admitted that it was not be- 
fore known in England, and that it was there called 
the American invention; and it now having be- 
come an auxiliary in every engraving establishment 
for facilitating and perfecting a transfer, was proof 
of its importance. Great secrecy was practiced in 
the art at this time, and in shops generally closed, 
so that detection of infringements upon a patent, 
had one been obtained, would have been difficult. 
This improvement having been so far regarded as 



ALVAN CLARK. 441 

public property, that it was not deemed expedient to 
attempt to reclaim it. Thus it fell from the hands 
of the ingenious inventor without aftbrding him 
any profit ; and his neglect to obtain a patent, which 
might have been effected, had he made an early 
application, showed a greater zeal and ardor to 
make discoveries, than a careful foresight to avail 
himself of the emoluments to be derived from such 
a useful invention. By continuing in Robeson's 
establishment for three years, his pecuniary circum- 
stances were considerably improved, and finding 
that the miniatures which he had occasionally 
painted were favorably regarded by persons of ob- 
servation and taste, he was induced to resume the 
art of painting. He removed to Boston in 1835, 
where his eftbrts have ever since met with adequate 
remuneration. He had from his youth incidentally 
devoted much attention to the study of optics, and 
had made prisms of unusual perfection for the 
camera lucida. He had acquired in adjusting and 
tracing outlines with this instrument a !skill, which 
has not been surpassed. 

Mr. Borden in his report of the trigonometrical 
survey of Massachusetts, bestows high commenda- 
tion upon his suggestion for its application in that 
work; and the prisms now used in the coast survey 
were made by Clark. Notwithstanding his ac- 
knowledged merit as a portrait and miniature paint- 
er, he gave a portion of his time to the study of 
mechanics, and also to the practice of mechanical 
arts and science in his workshop, connected with 
his house in Cambridge. In 1841, his signal in- 
vention of the false muzzled rifle Avas patented. In 
the course of his experiments for the perfection of 
this instrument, and in his description of its con- 
struction for the purpose of showing its use, he 
challenged all the prize shooters in the country at 
the odds of two to one, and soon found opportuni- 
ties to test the hazard he had incurred bv such a 

56 



442 ALVAN CLARK. 

proposal. This challenge was accepted, and jour- 
neys of hundreds of miles were made expressly to 
meet his competitors, where he was well aware 
that the greatest skill would be brought against him. 
In. seven matches of ten shots on the side of two 
hundred yards, six resulted in his favor. His frank- 
ness, candor and management on his arena won for 
him the greatest respect from his vanquished oppo- 
nents, and not one word of abuse or ill nature was 
received by him on these occasions. In the hands 
of the late Edwin Wesson, as manufacturer, this 
rifle has gained precedence over all others ; but for all 
his matches, Clark had made his guns with his own 
hands. In 1845, and since, he, with the assistance 
of his son, constructed several Newtonian reflecting 
telescopes with apertures from five to eight inches; 
and though successful in resolving the double stars 
and clusters, well known as tests of such instru- 
ments, he soon found, that, however perfect in 
workmanship, the position of the observer and the 
least unfavorable condition of the atmosphere ren- 
dered their action unsatisfactory, when placed by 
the side of the refractors. 

In 1848, he procured from Paris a pair of discs 
for an object glass of 5.[ inches aperture, at a cost of 
seventy dollars, from which he constructed an in- 
strument 87 inches in focal length, which was pur- 
chased by Mr. Wells, principal of the Pntnam free 
school in Newbaryport, for five hundred and fifty 
dollars. It is furnished with a range of powers from 
45 to over 1100, and exhibits clearly the fifth and 
sixth stars in the trapezium of Theta Orionis, and it 
is believed that it is the only American refractor, 
which has ever displayed the close and delicate 
companion of Zeta Herculis. The sixth star of the 
trapezium, though connected with one of the most 
interesting objects in the heavens for the telescope, 
was overlooked by all observers, until after 1830, 
and with the exception of the great Cambridge re- 



GEORGE W. MATSELL. 443 

fractor, and the one which Clark has lately made, 
this is the only instrument now in Massachusetts 
by which it can be seen. In these pursuits he has 
often spent the whole of the night in testing the 
power and accuracy of his telescopes, until the 
morning sun had driven every star from view. He 
has never attempted to construct or use the micro- 
meter, but this little instrument employed by philo- 
sophers in determining with wonderful accuracy, 
minute angles as a basis for computing the magni- 
tudes, distances and motions of heavenly bodies, 
has not escaped his particular examination. 

Mr. Clark still practices portrait and miniature 
painting in Boston, and at the same time his love 
for philosophical experiments, which success or fail- 
ure does not diminish, leads him to devote his 
leisure hours to science and the mechanic arts. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON MATSELL. 

^HIS gentleman has been selected as the 
^ well known originator of one of the most 
perfect systems of municipal police which 
has ever been successfully put into operation 
under a republican government. In addition 
to this, his life has from his early years, been 
pi"olific in incident and adventure. 

George Washington Matsell, although a native 
of the United States, is of English origin, on both 
the paternal and maternal side. His father, in or 
about the year 1784 — then a young English radical, 
and strongly tinctured with republican prejudices — 
emigrated to this country, and entered the employ 
of a mercantile house in Wall street, Nev/ York 
city. We do not know the exact reason for this 



444 GEORGE W. MATSELL. 

change of allegiance, but believe that Mr. Matsell 
(the name was then spelled Matzell) had made 
himself obnoxious to the British government by his 
bold advocacy of liberal sentiments; and, as the 
afiairs of the continent were, at that time, operating 
rather critically upon the stability of the English 
throne, it is nowise impossible that a hint of star 
chamber interference might have hastened his de- 
parture. 

He returned in nine or ten years, and then mar- 
ried a Miss Elizabeth Constable, a lady in whose 
veins flowed the blood of some of the first families 
in the realm, and who is, at the date of this present 
sketch, still living in the city of New York. After 
remaining a few years, he returned, and locating 
his residence in the land of his choice, became, in 
deed and in truth, an American citizen. 

Business relations, connected with property of 
his own and that of his wife, forced him, however, 
to cross the Atlantic frequently. And, as at times, 
Mrs. M. accompanied her husband, one or two of 
their children, we believe, were born on British soil. 
The latter years of his life were quietly spent in the 
city of his early business relations; and in March, 
1848, he was gathered to his fathers, sincerely 
mourned by a large circle of friends and relatives. 

The subject of this sketch was born in the city of New York, October 
25th, 1811. During the season of extreme boyhood, he might have been 
termed, possibly, not a bad boy, but certainly a very vigorous siioot of 
re|)ithhcanism. He was prompt among his playmates to avenge his own 
wrongs, or those of an injured school-fellow, and manifested fully an 
average loudness for the rough sports, and displays of harmless pugilism, 
then So rife among the youngsters of a city, whose northciii limit was 
not much above Spring street, and when skating on the Collect — now 
coursed by the track of the Harlem rail road — and stoning larks in the 
meadows, where Canal street at present stretches from Broadway to the 
North river, was considered rare fun, for an indulgence in Avhich, many 
an unlucky truant submitted to school discipline. There are thousands 
still alivt;,"who remember the desperate feuds existing between the rival 
factions of juveniles, in those days, and aomc there are, who still carry 
the .seal and signature of membership, in the shape; of a cracked .skull or 
broken arm. The result of this was the then called " fighting streets," 
where these boy bravos, taking sides, either through prejudice of location 



GEORGE W. MATSELL. 445 

or personal animosity, a fierce, and often, not bloodless warfare, was waged 
by the parties, in which fists were freely used, and sometimes clubs and 
stones came in as a reserve corps to settle the question of victory. In 
tliese demonstrations, young Matsell, we have reason to suspect, was 
seldom in the back-ground. The excitement and rough exercise was 
congenial to his natural activity of temperament; and, while the rude 
gymnastics served to spread the muscles of his frame, the foundation of 
a constitution was also laid, upon which at this day, rests a superstructure 
of almost iron endurance. 

At nine years old, we find George W. at work, farming, with a brother- 
in-law, on Baskingridge, New Jersey. But tilling the soil evidently did 
not agree with his disposition, for two years thereafter, with the consent 
of his parents, he commenced an apprenticeship in the art and mystery 
of a sailor's life, on board the brig Catharine Rodgers, bound for Mobile 
and Blakely, Alabama. Fifteen days out, the vessel was wrecked on 
Crab key, and our juvenile navigator with much difficulty escaped with 
his life. 

A residence of several months among the wreckers who made the 
Bahama and Florida reefs their abiding place, was terminated by his 
being finally sent to the American consul at Nassau, New Providence, 
where, for lack of other employment, he busied himself, for small wages, 
in one of the many salt yards in that vicinity. He finally reached Mobile 
in a coasting schooner, from whence, after a long interval, during which, 
we believe, he was, for a while, domiciled among a neigh])oring tribe of 
Creek Indians, the truant wanderer pointed his face homeward, in a 
lumber vessel, which was sailing for New York. He was received by 
his parents, as one from the dead — by some strange fatality, no tidings 
of his rescue from tlie wreck of the Catharine Rodgers, having reached 
their ears, until he himself conveyed the welcome news in person. 

The hardships and mishaps consequent on this trip, would, in most 
instances, have discouraged a lad so young, from any farther efforts to 
tiy his fortunes upon the treacherous wave ; but the love of adventure 
was too strong within to be thus easily repressed, and after a voyage to 
Charleston, South Carolina, he was regularly indentured (then scarcely 
in his teens,) as ship boy to the captain of an East Indiaman, and sailed 
for Canton. This vessel, called the London Trader, made a long but 
successful voyage, during which the future chief received a series of very 
useful lessons in the matters of discipline, regularity and subordination. 

His was no dainty dieting on board the London Trader, but with fore- 
castle fare, and subjected to all the usual privations of a sailor's life, the 
romance of the business settled into stern reality; and on the return of 
the vessel he felt perfectly willing to adopt some other profession. The 
young sailor had gained one thing, however, by this roving life, which 
was to prove of incalculable advantage. He had opened the l)ook of 
human nature, and commenced, while yet a boy, to read it \'ov himself ! 
He had learned to judge of men, not through common fame, but by 
observation; and although his scliool was somewhat disagreeable, yet the 
adverse circumstances under which the lessons were studied, fixed the 
rules and maxims, thus acquired, more firmly on his memory. 

A natural taste for drawing and design, early developed, was the means 
of procuring, shortly after his return from Cliina, a situation in the estab- 
lishment of Messrs. Barrett & Tileston, extensive silk dyers and printers 
on Staten island, where, forgetting his former predilections for tlie sea, 
he commenced a new vocation. His business was projecting, drawing 
and carving the pattern blocks for kerchiefs and other printed silk goods, 
an art, at that time, but little known or practiced on this side of the 



446 GEORGE W. MATSELL. 

Atlantic. Youn^ Matsell first went to Staten island in 1820, he then 
being but fifteen years old. His progress was, however, rapid, and 
although he remained only six or eight years, yet many of his designs 
are in use at the present day, and acknowledged to be among the most 
chaste and beautiful extant. While in tliis business, he also entered, with 
spirit, into the philanthropic projects of the day, and besides acting as 
president of the local temperance society of the island, was for a long 
period a superintendent df the sabbath scliools in the vicinity. 

In 1834, Mr. Matsell married Ellen M. Barrett, daughter of George M. 
Barrett, the principal partner in the firm above mentioned, and from this 
period we date the public life of the subject of this sketch. Having 
removed to the city of New York, and opened a bookstore in Chatham 
street, the new relation in which he stood to tiie community seems to 
have had its effect in rousing the latent energies of the man ; and with 
the liberal principles which he inherited most fully, from his parents, it 
is nowise strange that he entered enthusiastically into the political arena ; — 
a democrat of the straightest sect. Those acquainted with the history 
of parties in this country very well know the influence excited in years 
past by the sacliems of Tammanj', upon-the j)o]itical movements of the day. 
They will also remember that memorable epoch when, in 1835, the so 
called locofocos — then but an infant giant as an association — were ejected 
from Tammany hall. With that portion of the democracy, thus expelled 
by faction from brotherhood and communion, went George W. Matsell, 
even in so short a time, a prominent member of a party movement, whose 
j)urposes and principles were soon to extend throughout the Union with 
an almost all controlling power. 

Expulsion from the ancient wigwam did not discourage him, but fore- 
seeing the result, he, with colaborers ceased not their efforts in the cause 
of democratic liberty, until, in 1837, in company with Thomas S. Day, a 
veteran advocate of Jeffei-soniau principles, and others, Mr. Matsell had 
the pleasure of heading the procession of his fellow democrats, on their 
return to Tammany, where all petty differences being adjusted, the pil^e 
of peace was once again passed around the council fire. 

It is not generally known, yet such is the fixct, that to Mr. Matsell, aided 
by a ihw kindred spirits, the locoibco party is indebted for its extensive 
and almost perfect plan of partizan organization. We are not at liberty 
to disclose details, or we might show, how, from an obscure garret in an 
obscure street in New York city — to wliich the members of a certain 
club secretly came, and from whicli they stealthily departed — has ema- 
nated the most powerful scheme of party tactics ever jjut in operation in 
this country. From that then unknown conclave, or from a common 
centre, radiated the incipient impulses of a subtle influence, which has 
since extended throughout the length and breadth of the land, whether 
for good or for evil, we pronounce not, but that the originators were pure 
and patriotic in their intention, is most fully believed. 

TIk; same j)rinciple has been, more lately applied, by Mr. Matsell to a 
diliercMit object, but with the same success, and we only make LJiis di- 
gression for the purpose of indicating the natural inclination of his genius 
towards schemes of concentrated effort, directed by strict rules of disci- 
l)line and order. 

in th(! years 1837-8, a lucrative and honorable post in the customs, 
seems to have had a partial effect in directing tlic ener/ies of his mind 
in a new channel. Circumstances had induced him to investigate, with 
more than ordinary care, the miserable system of |)ohce, which, at tliat 
time, seemed more calculated to ofi'er security to villany, than protection 
to the citizen, and it is highly probable, that Joag before he was placed 



GEORGE W. MATSELL. 447 

officially in immediate contact with the so called conservators of ?lie 
public peace, his leisure intervals were employed in devising measures 
of reform. 

In 1840, Mr. Matsell was appointed police justice. He was, at that 
time but thirty-one years old, and the youngest individual who ever re- 
ceived the appointment. 

His associate magistrates were Messrs. Parker, Stevens and Merritt. 
A very short experience upon the bench, served to convince the new 
magistrate, that the police and the police courts of New York city, were 
totally inefficient — that malpractices had crept into the administration of 
both the executive and judicial departments, and that as long as tliese 
evils continued, crime would increase, while the safety and quiet of the 
community, would become more and more insecure with each succeed- 
ing year. 

Added to numerous other defects and evidences of insecurity, an 
odious practice had obtained among the more efficient officers, called 
the pigeon system, a method of operation in detecting crime, which 
had been borrowed from European police management, but the inevita- 
ble result of which is to paralize the arm of justice, by too close a contact 
witli the mesmerism of rascahty. Our space will not permit a full expose 
of this pernicious collusion between officers of the law and known vil- 
lains, but the main features of the plan are familiar to a great portion of tlie 
public. The principle was to set a thief to catch the thiefl Among the 
rogues, large and small, who still had the good fortune to be at large, each 
ofiicer had his favorite — his tool — his pigeon! A compact, tor mutual 
benefit was formed between tlie two, by the terms of which, the one was 
to act the part of the spy or traitor, whenever his official partner required 
his aid, for which double villany the pigeon was promised immunity 
in his depredations, so far as the respectable interference of the officer 
could avail ! 

The consequences of such demoralizing and disgraceful alliances, were 
easily foreseen to be deplorable in the extreme ; yet such was the infatu- 
ation with Avhichthe attaches of the old regime clung to the abomination, 
that, to this day, it has strong advocates among them, and, in some in- 
stances, is even stealthily practiced. 

In the midst of all these troubles, perplexities, and evils, Mr. Matsell 
took his seat among the justices of police, determined that although he 
might remain unassisted by his colleagues, that a beneficial reform 
should be accomplished at no very distant day. In the discharge of the 
onerous duties of his station, he was industrious, energetic, and in- 
defatigable, and ever tempering the administration of penal law with 
kindness and mercy. Few indeed were the disgraced children of sin and 
shame, who ever had to complain of unnecessary harshness or insult at 
his hands. Although not a portion of his duty, yet he made it his 
business, after the labors of the day had closed, to patrol the more ex- 
j)osed and dangerous portions of the city, frequently in disguise, and 
many an unlucky leatherhead has received a 7neaning hint, at the dis- 
charge of the watch, in tiie morning, in relation to some carelessness or 
inattention to the duties of his beat, while on the midnight tour; the 
astonished delinquent never dreaming that the justice was his own 
inforfliant. 

By a course of observation thus minute and searching, and continued 
imremittingly through several years, an almost perfect knowledge of 
the city and its sanitory wants was obtained; the haunts of the dissolute 
and vicious were ascertained and noted, and a vast amount of informa- 
tion treastu-ed which to the world at large, was as a sealed volume. 



448 GEORGE \V. MATSELL. 

Justice Matsell had, meanwhile, made himself familiar with the police 
organizations of London, Paris, and other European capitals, locetlicr 
with the systems in operation on this continent; and when in the winter 
of 1843 and 4, an earnest movement was made by the city of New 
York, for a radical alteration in her municipal laws, so that more ad- 
equate protection might be afforded the life and property of the citizen, 
the tact, talent, and experience of the present chief, were put in active 
and beneficial requisition. 

The fretpiency of alarming depredations upon property, and the ex- 
Jiibition of brute violence by organized mobs, at short intervals, had 
fully impressed upon the community the absolute necessity lor a more 
efficient corps, and in May, 1844, a law passed the legislature, es- 
tablishing the present New York police department. It went into effect 
in June, 1845. 

Mr. Matsell was appointed chief of the new organization, and entered 
upon the duties of his office with all the zeal, energy, and singleness of 
purpose lor which he is eminently and justly distinguished. 

It was a task of no small difficulty. The machine was vast, compli- 
cated, and but little understood. Its various details were to be per- 
lected, the materials for its structure procured and properly adjusted, 
and the experimental trial made in the face of a large array of preju- 
dice, created mainly by those who still adhered to their ancient customs, 
and sighed at the memoiy of the flesh pots of Egypt. 

But at that particular and critical period, the city of New York was 
lavored with a chief magistrate of more than ordinary sagacity, intel- 
ligence, and firmness of i)iu-pose, in the pei-son of its mayor, Wm. F. 
Ilavemeyer, who with his accustomed penetration, saw plainly the 
benefits that would result from the successful application of thege new 
enactments, and cordially gave his counsel and cooperation to the task. 
But with ail the aids thus cheerluliy granted from the head of the 
municipal government, the chief of police found a herculean labor 
before him, and one, which would tax his powei-s of organization, and 
maxims of discipline to their full extent. JVine hundred men were to be 
selected from the midst of the citizens, men of good character, and, as 
far as possible, of intelligence; men of shrewdness and habits of in- 
dustry and carefulness: and to this body of freeman, were to be applied 
a system of discipline similar to that of tiie camp, without the suuHuary 
process of enforcing obedience, which the military officer possesses. 

The difficulties were appalling, but the system finally triumphed, and 
has been now long enough in existence to establish the universal con- 
viction of its utility, and an acknowledgment of the wisdom and foresight 
of the master mind to whom it owes its origin.* 

Without the military basis of the French, or the perhaps objectionable 
pension features of the English police, it has nevertheless sufficient 
inherent elements of power and stability to answer the purposes intended, 
and although scarcely four yeai-s have yet elapsed since the inception 
and promulgation of the plan, its immense advantages are already ap- 
parent to even a casual observer. 

And to George W. Matsell, wore than to any other one individual, do 
the public owe this admirable organization. AH his energies have been 
devoted to its perfection — eminently has he been successful. In that 
success too, rests his principal reward, sinca he is this day, pecuniarily 
speaking, a poorer man than when he first assumed the duties of chief 
of police. 

* A full account of the details of this admirable system, kindly furnished by a talented gen. 
tleman of New York city, will appear in tlie next edition of this work. 



GEORGE W. MATSELL. 449 

Tliis organization, under Mr. Matsell, lias fully equalled the anticipa- 
tions of its friends, and the institution will, unless tampered with by 
unwise legislation, long remain as a monument of his industry, taste and 
perseverance. Other and perhaps abler heads were engaged in its 
origin, but to the present chief is the city mainly indebted for the effi- 
ciency and good order which characterizes tlie institution. Through its 
means a revolution has been effected in the criminal statistics of the 
largest city in the Union. 

Mr. Matsell, although, formerly an ardent poli- 
tician, has, for some years past, withdrawn in a 
great measure from party operations; and that this 
course on his part has been appreciated, may be 
known from the fact that he has enjoyed, probably 
more than any one official connected with the city 
government, the confidence of all parties. Under 
the rule of nativism, in 1844-5, his intercourse with 
Mayor Harper was of the most friendly and unre- 
served nature, and the same may be observed with 
regard to Mayors Mickle and Brady, the latter of 
whom, although a firm whig, nevertheless evinced 
the highest regard for the talents of Mr. Matsell as 
a municipal officer. In 1848 likewise, when the 
office of chief of police became vacant by limitation 
of the term of service, the board of aldermen, of 
Avhom the whigs had a decided majority, unani- 
mously confirmed his reappointment, thus yielding 
a high tribute to the value of his public services. 
Of the estimation in which he is held by the present 
mayor, William F. Havemeyer, now in his second 
term of office, it is perhaps needless to speak, since 
from him has Mr. Matsell received two nominations 
for the office of chief of police. 

Abroad, his name is extensively known, and his 
correspondence, connected with the official business 
of the department, not only extends through the 
Union, Mexico, and the Canadas, but also to the 
heads of the British police organization and those 
of continental Europe. This interchange of intelli- 
gence is useful to all parties, and will probably in- 
crease in importance and piquancy. 

In private life, Mr. Matsell is irreproachable. 

57 



450 WALTER BULLARD. 

Strongly attached to his domestic circle, he yet 
jfinds but little leisure to indulge in those fireside 
comforts which would otherwise form the more 
pleasant portion of his existence. A kind husband 
and an indulgent father — an upright magistrate 
and a good citizen — now in the prime of life, with 
apparently a long career of usefulness before him, 
there is but small doubt that the character he has 
thus far sustained will continue as an inheritance 
beyond all price, and that his name will be remem- 
bered among those of whom it is said, 

" Lord keep their memory green." 

Note. — One night during the past winter, when Mr. Matsell in dis- 
guise, was perambulating the city, he was actually arrested, alter a severe 
struggle, by one of the first ward police, Avho took him for a burglar. 
The chief suffered himself to be taken to the station house, before dis- 
closing his name. The denouement caused unbounded merriment. It is, 
j)erhaps, needless to say, that the chief passed a well merited encomiiuii 
upon the energetic officer. 




WALTER BULLAED. 

*AS born at Holliston, Middlesex county, 
' Massachusetts, on the 17th of July, 1803. 
His parents were honest and industrious. 
His mother Avas the daughter of John Harris, 
Avho came to this country from England, pre- 
vious to the revolution. He married in America 
and had three daughters, after which he returned 
to England on business. While there, the war 
breaking out, he was compelled to join the army 
which was sent here, the same which took Boston 
and burnt Charleston. The mother of Walter was 
then only seven years old, and she distinctly re- 
collects the horrors of the scene. She was at the 
window and saw the regulars pass througli the 
streets in which she resided with her mother in 



WALTER BULLARD. - 451 

Boston. Her father stepped out of the ranks and 
kissed her, at the same time informing her who he 
was. This was tlie only time she recollected see- 
ing him, for the women and children were soon 
afterwards removed from the city. Harris sub- 
sequently died on his way to New York, after 
which his widow married again and went to Eng- 
land. The mother of Walter remained at Boston 
until her thirteenth year, when she went to Hollis- 
ton, with Asa Bullard, the grandfather of Walter, 
and with whom she lived until her marriage. She 
is yet living, at the age of eighty, still retaining 
the industrious habits of her youth, and justly 
respected. 

The father of Walter, was a blacksmith and 
farmer, and by his industry accumulated a com- 
petency. Subsequently, however, becoming at in- 
tervals insane, through the mismanagement of those 
entrusted with his affairs, he died poor in his 
eighty-first year. 

Walter was one of twelve children, all of whom 
except one, reached maturity. Five of the boys 
have had two wives each. 

While a boy, Walter worked industriously on 
the farm and in the blacksmith's shop. He, how- 
ever, by working too hard, suffered severely for 
many years from the hip complaint. At a very 
early age he exhibited considerable talent, and was 
always asking for the why and the wherefore, before 
he gave his assent. He was a hard student of the 
Bible. At the age of fifteen, he engaged in the 
shoemaking business, in which with very little 
instruction he soon became proficient, earning $12 
a month the first year, besides his board. During 
the years he was thus employed, he made great 
accessions to his knowledge. At the age of nine- 
teen, having made up his mind to become a preacher, 
he gave up shoemaking and placed himself under 
a competent instructor; and before two years had 



452 ' WALTER BULLARD. 

elapsed, he preached his first sermon, before'a large 
congregation. Having, however, become attached 
to a young lady named Hannah Rockwood, her 
father refused to sanction the match unless Walter 
should give up all idea of being a minister. He 
desired his daughter to marry a farmer, so that she 
could remain at home with him on his farm. Love 
prevailed, and "Walter resumed his business of a 
shoemaker. But alas for human hopes ! in less than 
eighteen months, his wife after a dangerous illness, 
died; she and her infant son were buried in the 
same grave. This was a truly trying dispensation 
to the mourning surviver, who with a sad heart, 
left the scene of his troubles for Utica, where he 
arrived to begin the world anew, with only a dollar 
and a half in his possession. After many troubles, 
he succeeded in procuring a situation as a teacher. 
In 1828, he gave up his school, and devoted his 
whole time to the ministry. His first engagement 
was at Augusta, Oneida county, where he boarded 
with General David Custis, whose daughter Emily, 
three years after the death of his first wife, he 
married. During the first ten years of this latter 
marriage, they have had six sons, five of whom are 
yet living. 

Mr. Bullard, since his connection with the min- 
istry, has been very actively engaged in the work, 
besides contributing occasionally to the press. His 
present residence is at Corning, Oneida county, N. 
Y. Our limits will not permit us to enter into the 
details of his eventful litis, but they will be referred 
to on a future occasion. 



ELIPHALET NOTT. 453 




ELIPHALET NOTT. 

R. NOTT was born in Ashford, Connecticut, 
June, 1773, of poor parents, and an ordinary 
destiny seemed to await him. To render 
this probability a certainty, both his parents 
died while he was still a boy. His mother, 
however, was a woman of strong mind and 
noble virtues, and she lived long enough to leave 
the impress of her character on her son. He had, 
by iriheritafice, her gifted intellect. 

Thrown upon the world at this early age, he had 
nothing but good health, a resolute will, and a pair 
of stout arms, on which to rely. With vague and 
indistinct longings for something better than the 
life before him, he yet did not know how to reach 
it. It is said that when a mere boy he thirsted for 
knowledge with a desire that could not be quenched ; 
and at length, one day, while laboring in the field, 
as he saw the physician of the place riding by, his 
resolution was instantly taken, and, dropping his 
hoe, he resolved never to be a farmer; and going to 
the physician, requested to be received as a student. 
The good doctor, instead of ridiculing the foolish 
request, seemed struck with the boy's manner and 
resolution, and advised him to return to his friends 
and endeavor to prosecute his education. 

Soon after, he went to live with his brother. Rev. 
Samuel Nott, pastor of the Congregational church 
of Franklin, Connecticut, who still remains there, 
nearly a hundred years old. Here he acquired some 
knowledge of the Greek and Latin, and mathe- 
matics. In the mean time he taught a district 
school in the winter, in order to obtain means for 
his support. In this way he continued to progress 
until about seventeen years of age, when he took 
charge of a school in Plainfield. Rev. Joel Bene- 



454 ELIPHALET NOTT. 

diet, D. D., was pastor of the church at that time — 
a man of great learning-, ability and piety. He 
taught in the family of Mr. Benedict, and the latter 
thus became more intimately acquainted with him. 
He saw in the young teacher indications of great- 
ness, and he took a deep interest in him ; and one 
day told him that if he ever wanted assistance in 
any project, to come to him, and he would furnish 
all the aid in his power. In process of time the 
young teacher fell in love with one of his daughters, 
and he was not a man to sue in vain. The attach- 
ment was mutual, and so one day young Nott went 
to Dr. Benedict, and reminded him of his offer to 
help him when he needed aid. The good old gen- 
tleman acknowledged the promise, and asked what 
he could do for him. "1 want you," he replied, 
" to help me get your daughter for a wife." The 
doctor was taken all aback, but clearing his throat 
with a " hem," said, " Well, well, take her, take 
her." Under his future father-in-law's tuition he 
progressed rapidly in his studies, and when but 
nineteen years of age received the first degree in 
the arts, from Brown university, Rhode Island. 

Young Nott then turned his attention to the 
ministry, and studied and taught at -the same time, 
thus supporting himself by his labors. Two years 
after he was licensed to preach, and very soon mar- 
ried Miss Benedict. At that time a youth of twenty- 
two was very young to be a licensed clergyman, 
but Mr. Nott's means did not allow him to postpone 
the day of entering upon active service. 

He, however, labored a year as a missionary — an 
excellent preparation for the pastoral duties — and 
then settled in Cherry Valley, in the double relation 
of pastor and principal of the academy. The latter 
was the most profitable of the two, lor he soon drew 
a large school about him. He remained here but 
two years, however, for his eloquence and earnest- 
ness and success soon made him widely popular, 



LUTHER BRADISH. 455 

and in 1798 he was called to take charge of the 
Presbyterian church ofAlhan3^ Here he remained 
six years, drawing to his church a large and delight- 
ed audience, and attecting all hearts by his appeals. 
His star was now in the ascendant, and he ranked 
among his personal friends the first men of the state. 
His celebrated sermon on the death of Hamilton 
Avas delivered near the close of his ministerial 
labors. Being elected president of Union college, 
he accepted; and, from that time on, his history 
has been identified with the institvrtion whose in- 
terests he has managed. 



^ ^ ♦ » » 




LUTHER BRADISH. 

F all those who have occupied high public 
stations in the gift of the whig party in this 
state, during the last fifteen years, no man 
stands higher, or more deservedly so, than Lu- 
A ther Bradish. A gentleman and a Christian, in 
the highest and best sense of the term — a scholar, 
a statesman, and a man of extensive and varied 
attainments in almost every department of know- 
ledge — of the utmost dignity and urbanity of man- 
ner, and of a heart ever open and susceptible to the 
noblest impulses, he is in truth one of whom any 
community might be proud to claim. Luther 
Bradish was born amid the Hampshire hills in the 
glorious old commonwealth of Massachusetts — of 
a parentage poor, though respectable. His early 
manhood was devoted to the profession of a teacher 
of youth in Buffalo, during the war, and afterwards 
in Jamaica, on Long Island. He was married in 
Boston, in 1815, to a daughter of the late Colonel 
Gibbs, formerly of Newport, Rhode Island — a man 
of wealth and of the highest standing in society. 



456 LUTHER BRADISH. 

On the death of Mrs. Bradish, which occurred not 
many years after her marriage, Mr. Bradish made 
the tour of Europe, and penetrated as far eastward 
as Russia; residing at St. Petersburgh for several 
months, and becoming intimate in the highest cir- 
cles of that splendid metropolis. The winter of 
1824 he spent in Paris, where his elegant manners 
and great accomplishments were fully appreciated 
by the French and foreign residents of that centre 
of European civilization. 

On his return to America, after an absence of 
seven years, Mr. Bradish became a resident of 
Franklin county, where he held large tracts of unim- 
proved land. From this county he was elected to 
the assembly in the year 1836, and again in 1837. 
The latter year the whigs having a majority in the 
assembly, elected him speaker of that body; the 
duties of which office he discharged in the most 
admirable manner. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Bradish was elected lieu- 
tenant-governor of the state, and again in 1840 — 
leadins" Governor Seward, who was on the same 
ticket with himself, some fifteen hundred votes in 
the latter year. As presiding officer of the senate, 
Governor Bradish may be pronounced, without fear 
of contradiction, facile princeps of all his predeces- 
sors and successors up to the present time. His 
dignity and firmness, combined with the utmost 
courtesy and urbanity of manner towards every 
member of the senate, can never be forgotten by 
those who attended the sessions of that branch of 
the legislature from 1839 to 1842. 

Since his retirement from public life, Governor 
Bradish has resided, in the winter, in New York, 
and in the summer, in Westchester. — Albany Ex- 
press. 



JAMES S. LIBBY. 457 




JAMES SMITH LIBBY. 

'IS grand-parents, paternal and maternal, 
served their country during the war of the 
revolution, and were distinguished for their 
worth and patriotism. At the close of the strug- 
gle, they resumed their original occupation as 
farmers, and remained in its successful prosecu- 
tion till they were called to another, and a better 
world. 

Jacob Libby, the father of the subject of our no- 
tice, was born in the state of Maine, but at an early 
age he removed to Straftbrd county. New Hamp- 
shire, which was then a complete wilderness. To 
his industry and perseverance, the wilderness gave 
way to productive fields; and, one of the finest 
farms in New England remains an evidence of his 
success. He was widely and favorably known 
among his fellow citizens, and was honored with 
many public trusts. In his political opinions, he was 
a democrat, having early espoused the principles of 
Jefferson, and was a warm supporter of Andrew 
Jackson. He had ten children, six of whom are 
still living. Three remain around the old home- 
stead, and three reside in the city of New York. 

James S. Libby is the fourth son. He was born in 
the town of Tuftonborough, county of Stratford, and 
state of New Hampshire, on the 2d day of Novem- 
ber, 1S05. The first fifteen years of his life were 
spent at home. His education was limited, he 
having only enjoyed the advantages of a few months 
schooling in the year. He inherited a robust con- 
stitution, habits of industry and prudence ; and, at 
the age of fifteen, commenced an apprenticeship as 
a hatter, 

Before arriving at the age of twenty-one, he pur- 
chased his time of his employer, from the earnings 

58 



458 JAMES S. LIBBY. 

of his extra hours. In the twentieth year of his 
age, he entered the employ of Colonel Benjamin 
Edmunds, of Plymouth, New Hampshire, a gentle- 
man of the highest standing and respect. In the 
following year he was married to Miss Lydia Ed- 
munds, sister to the above named gentleman. In 
1830, he commenced business at Sandwich, INew 
Hampshire, in company with the Honorable Daniel 
Hoit, a gentleman who has been ever remembered 
with the greatest regard. 

Subsequently, he removed to Shipton, Lower 
Canada, where he prosecuted his usual business 
with much success. Those traits of character which 
have ever attracted to him hosts of friends, secured 
to him the respect and good will of his fellow 
citizens. He was offered the clerkship of the com- 
missioners' court, and other public offices of emolu- 
ment and honor. 

In 1835, he left Canada with his family and ef- 
fects, with the intention of locating himself in the 
state of Illinois. On his arrival, however, in the 
city of New York, he concluded to remain there. 
He accordingly purchased a house in Barclay street, 
and very soon acquired the respect and confidence 
of a large number of citizens. 

In 1845, Mr. Libby lost his amiable wife. He 
subsequently married Miss Moore. 

Having been elected by a large majority, a mem- 
ber of the common council, he has, while in that 
body, distinguished himself by his firmness and 
zeal, whilst prosecuting the best interests of the 
city. He has had the good fortune to merit and 
secure a degree of popular favor that does not fall 
to the lot of many individuals. 

Among the leading traits in the character of Mr. 
Libby, may be mentioned an untiring energy ; in- 
domitable perseverance ; a physical force and power 
capable of performing great labor; great intelli- 
gence, a rapid, clear perception, which enables him 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 459 

to grasp almost any subject at the instant; and a 
regard for integrity and truth, which no temptation 
could allure, and no artifice of vice betray. And, 
it may be added, that, throughout his whole life, 
neither friend nor foe has been able to say that he 
has not maintained his word. He is a man of active 
benevolence; and, although without pretension, 
the unfortunate have ever found in him a friend. 
In all the private and domestic relations of life, he 
is kind and affectionate ; and the best commentary 
that has been extended to the purity of his life and 
action, consists in the fact, that the man does not 
live, who can justly Say that he ever provoked his 
ill-will. 

After many hard struggles with the obstacles that 
ingenuous merit is always sure to encounter, in a 
world like this, he is now able to enjoy the conscious 
assurance that he has surmounted them all, by his 
own individual efforts; and, although now in the 
meridian of life only, he is possessed of enough of 
the world's riches, and the good opinion of his con- 
stituents, to gratify a rational and reasonable am- 
bition. 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 

'T is a remarkable fact, and one of which 
the country may be proud, that some of our 
most eminent public men have commenced 
Hheir career in poverty, and have in youth sup- 
ported themselves by the sweat of their brow. 
In no country in the world has real merit such 
a fair chance as in our own. Mr. Fillmore, in his 
early days, earned his living by carding wool, and 
little dreamed, perhaps, that he would one day be 
vice-president of the United States. 




460 MILLARD FILLMORE. 

Millard Fillmore is a native of the state of New 
York. He was born in Cayuga county, at Summer 
Hill, on the 7th day of January, 1800. His father, 
Nathaniel Fillmore, was born in Burlington, Ver- 
mont, in 1971; he immigrated in early life to the 
western part of New York, then a wilderness, and 
in 1819, purchased a farm in Erie county, which he 
still cultivates. The educational advantages enjoyed 
by young Fillmore were very slender ; the Bible and 
such books as were used in the very common 
schools then existing, were the limits of his literary 
pursuits until the age of fifteen, when he was ap- 
prenticed to the wool-carding business in Livingston 
county. He was afterward placed with a person in 
the same business in the town where his father re- 
sided, and passed four years at the trade, devouring, 
in the meanwhile, the contents of a small village 
library. At the age of nineteen, fortune threw in 
his way a benevolent man, who had the penetration 
to discover the youth's good parts, and the kindness 
to place him in a position to cultivate them. This 
gentleman was the later Walter Wood — a man 
whose name should be held in reverence by all who 
have known what it is to struggle with adverstry 
and gather knowledge in the thorn-beset wayside 
of early poverty. Judge Wood, for this benevolent 
gentleman was a lawyer, possessed a good library 
and handsome fortune. He prevailed upon young 
Fillmore to quit the trade of wool-carding and to 
take to the study of law, that being looked upon as 
the only profession which can qualify a man for 
high station. A sad fact, but one that can not be 
denied. The clothier's apprentice purchased the 
remainder of his time, and studied law and survey- 
ing in the office of his benefactor until he was 
twenty-one. During this time he partly supported 
himself by teaching school. In 1821 he removed 
to Erie county, and entered a lawyer's office in Buf- 
falo, where he pursued his legal studies and taught 



MILLARD FILLMORE. . 461 

a school for his support, until 1823; when he was 
admitted to practice in the court of common pleas. 
From this time his course has been onward. He 
first commenced practicing in his profession in the 
village of Aurora, in Cayuga county, but returned 
to Buffalo, where he still resides. In 1829 he was 
elected a member of the state legislature, and was 
reelected the two succeeding years. It was during 
his membership in the state legislature that the laws 
for the imprisonment for debt were partially abolish- 
ed ; and it was in a great degree owing to the activity, 
eloquence and indefatigable zeal with which he 
advocated the removal of these villainous relics of 
an age of superstition and weakness, that the friends 
of humanity succeeded in partially wiping the foul 
blot from our still sufficiently barbarous code of 
laws. A person reared in the manner Millard Fill- 
more has been could have no sympathy with that 
which made poverty a crime. 

In 1832, Mr. Fillmore was elected to congress, 
and in 1839, when he distinguished himself by his 
report on the New Jersey election case. He was 
reelected to the next congress by a largely increased 
majority, and was placed at the head of the com- 
mittee of ways and means, in which post he gained 
great distinction by his energy, aptness and indus- 
try. At the close of this congress he declined a 
reelection, and resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion at the bar of his native state. In the year 
1844 he was nominated by the whigs for governor of 
the state in opposition to Silas Wright, but was un- 
successful. In 1847, he was elected comptroller of 
the state of New York, and has filled the office 
with honor to himself and profit to the people. He 
resigned the office of comptroller on the 20th of 
February, 1849, preparatory to assuming the duties 
of vice-president of the United States, to which 
high station he had been elected on the November 
previous. 




462 WOOSTER BEACH. 



WOOSTER BEACH. 

jLTHOUGH the means of his parents were 
' limited, they managed to give him a good 
_. -and liberal education. He was born in 
Trumbull, Fairfield county, Connecticut. At 
twelve years of age he became in a very un- 
expected and remarkable manner, convinced 
that the human family were suffering under the 
most serious abuses and injuries inflicted by the 
popular practice of medicine in its various branches. 
These sentiments, which seemed to rise spontane- 
ously in his mind, made the most serious and last- 
ing impressions, which have ever since influenced 
his line of conduct, and in consequence of which he 
was led to adopt the advice of the poet: 

Search well thy genius, every bent survey, 
And where she prompts, be ready to obey. 

He therefore chose the medical profession, in pre- 
ference to any other employment. He could, how- 
ever, by no means follow the beaten track in medi- 
cal science, but resolved to strike out a new path, 
and thus labor to bring about a reformation, and if 
possible, to rescue his fellow men from the great 
abuses and evils, which in all directions, appeared 
to him to be so conspicuous and self-evident. The 
greatest satisfaction which he experienced, was the 
prospect of ameliorating the sufterings of mankind; 
but how to accomplish that object he could not per- 
ceive. He expected to make great sacrifices, receive 
much reproach, opposition and persecution, from 
the selfish and the bigoted. The question was not 
what is popular, or what profession will bring the 
most money; but what is right, and most con- 
ducive to the benefit of others? He felt it thus a 
duty, to make every possible eftbrt to accomplish 
his object. He saw the deplorable condition of the 



WOOSTER BEACH. 463 

healing art, but could not see what course he could 
pursue to remedy it. The very thought of studying 
in the old orthodox school of medicine was revolt- 
ing. On one occasion, at a very early age, his views 
were corroborated by a case which occurred near 
his father's residence. A person had been laboring 
under some chronic disease, for which the physician 
had administered large quantities of mercury, which 
had ruined the man's health, and affected one of 
the joints of the lower extremities. For this an am- 
putation was performed, and proved fatal. Although 
a lad, Wooster walked the distance of three miles 
to suggest a different treatment, but his efforts were 
of no avail. Another of his neighbors took large 
quantities of mercury, which so thoroughly filled 
the system that he was rendered a cripple and 
walked on crutches with difficulty. A knowledge 
of these facts, served to confirm the sentiments he 
had so early imbibed, and urged him on in the 
course he had premeditated. 

It was at this period, when he was anxiously de- 
sirous of acquiring new truths and new principles 
in medicine, which should subvert the popular prac- 
tice, and thus bring about a reformation, that he 
heard through a relative who had derived great 
benefit from his practice, of a celebrated physician 
in the state of New Jersey, by the name of Tidd, 
and who pursued an improved method of treating 
many diseases. But the father of young Beach 
having a large family, he found it necessary to en- 
gage in some employment to gain a livelihood. He 
accordingly commenced teaching a school, about 
twenty miles from the residence of Dr. Tidd, from 
whence soon after, he paid him a visit. He found 
that the doctor had practiced nearly half a century, 
and was known extensively, and had treated, suc- 
cessfully, some of the most difficult diseases, gene- 
rally abandoned as incurable by the medical pro- 
fession. His treatment, however, was confined to 



\ 

464 WOOSTER BEACH. 

a few surgical diseases, such as fistula, cancer, white 
swelling-, scrofula, ulcers, &c., in which he entirely 
excelled all other surgeons. Wooster, therefore, be- 
came extremely anxious to obtain a knowledge of 
his practice, believing that it would at least lay the 
foundation of a reformation, and applied to him, 
wishing to be received as a student. But objections 
were urged. However, after the absence of a num- 
ber of years, during which time his mind was 
altogether absorbed with the subject, he again ap- 
plied to Tidd, and circumstances were then such 
that he consented to receive the applicant as a stu- 
dent. He thus commenced the study of the heal- 
ing art, not by books, lectures, recitations or dissec- 
tions, but by clinical practice in the great book of 
nature. They visited patients together, and he thus 
learned their symptoms and mode of treatment. 
Dr. Tidd was a man of no education, but of great 
natural talents, and his knowledge was obtained at 
the bed side of the sick. The information that 
Wooster acquired from him, although limited, laid 
the foundation for his future success in practice. 
Sometime afterwards, Dr. Tidd died, aged seventy- 
five. After having succeeded him in practice for a 
short period. Dr. Beach removed to the city of New 
York, where the prospect for practice was en- 
couraging, and the facilities for carrying out medical 
reform very great. On his arrival in the city, he 
commenced attending lectures in the Barclay street 
medical college, under Drs. Post, Hosack, McNevin, 
Francis ; Dr. Bavid being then president of the col- 
lege. During the time he was attending lectures, 
he was also engaged in practice, which furnished 
him Avith means to defray his expenses. His prac- 
tice increased and was successful. And now having 
become acquainted with the common system of 
medicine, and obtained a legal diploma to practice, 
he found it had a tendency to remove prejudice 
from the minds of the people, and inspire confi- 



WOOSTER BEACH. 465 

dence. Just in proportion to his success, however, 
Avas the opposition of some physicians excited 
ao^ainst him, and he had to encounter great persecu- 
tion from the selfish and illiberal portion of the 
faculty. But the merit and importance of the prac- 
tice, soon became extensively known and appre- 
ciated, in consequence of the numerous cures daily 
wrouo^ht. From his extensive practice he had an 
excellent opportunity of testing his own principles 
and demonstrating their superiority over the old 
system. His own mind was fully convinced of its 
superiority over the mineral and depletive system. 
He therefore reflected very deeply on the best means 
of promulgating it, and concluded to make a bold 
movement for this purpose. He now published a 
work called the Medical Reformer, with a view to 
enlighten the public, and subsequently the Medical 
Almanac. He also commenced a weekly periodical 
which had a very extensive circulation, in which 
his object was to expose and correct various abuses 
in morals, religion and medicine. He gave many 
strictures on long standing abuses on i-eligious and 
medical subjects, which were well received and 
applauded by the more liberal part of the com- 
munity. Such was the consciousness of Dr. Beach 
of the utility and importance of the cause, that no- 
thing moved or discouraged him. Perseverance 
was his motto. At this period of his career, he 
deemed it advisable to establish an infirmary, where 
the public, and especially the poor, would have an 
opportunity of receiving the benefit of advice and 
medicine. He therefore built a house for that pur- 
pose, and opened it for the reception of patients, 
where he attended over two thousand cases the first 
year, of different diseases; thus affording a still 
greater opportunity of acquiring experience. Next, 
in order still farther to extend the knowledge of 
these improvements and discoveries, he erected a 
much larger building for a medical school, which 

59 



466 WOOSTER BEACH. 

was called the New York medical academy. Cir- 
culars were published throughout the Union, an- 
nouning the institution, its principles, &c., and in- 
viting students to attend it; also offering to teach 
such as were indigent, at a nominal price. He 
lectured himself and took a general superintendence 
of the school, employing two or three other physi- 
cians to assist him. Many resorted to this school 
for instruction from all parts, most of whom were 
miable to pay for their instruction. Students were 
taught by lectures, examinations and clinical prac- 
tice. They also had an opportunity of visiting pa- 
tients at their residences, and at the infirmary; and 
in fact, it is claimed, acquired more knowledge of 
the healing art in a few months than is usually gained 
in years, by the old method of teaching. Some old 
school physicians, as well as students, came many 
hundred miles to attend the lectures; and notwith- 
standing the great difficulty of establishing an op- 
position school, the seeds of medical reform were 
sown there, which subsequently spread in many 
sections of the country, and not only furnished many 
well educated physicians, but led to the establish- 
ment of other schools, of a similar character. During 
the continuance of the school. Dr. Beach established 
a daily paper, called the Evening Journal, the first 
small daily paper published in the city of New York. 
In this he still continued to disseminate his reformed 
principles, which with other advantages, seemed to 
silence the opposition. 

At this time, the trustees of a chartered institution 
at Worthington, in Ohio, sent a letter requesting 
the reformed college to establish a branch of their 
school in that town, situated near Columbus, the 
capital of the state. Dr. Beach therefore made a 
contract with Drs. Morrow, of Kentucky, Steele, of 
Pennsylvania, and Jones, of Maine, to go there and 
organize the school, which they did. They were to 
conduct it in the same manner, as the parent in- 



WOOSTER BEACH. 467 

stitution, but subsequently they concluded to issue 
their own diplomas, and conduct it independently, 
which led to great difficulties. Yet the school at 
Worthington furnished many well educated phy- 
sicians, who have been located in different parts of 
the country, and follow the same practice, and 
wherever they went, they were well received by the 
community, giving great satisfaction to their pa- 
tients. Dr. Beach and his associates subsequently 
encountered unexpected and extraordinary difficul- 
ties in conducting their school. Trouble of a per- 
sonal character, arising from persecution and dis- 
honesty of men in whom he trusted, caused Dr. 
Beach poignant suiferings; and while he was by 
every movement trying to benefit others, he was 
made a victim to the most base and iniquitous con- 
duct of those who were professedly friendly. During 
his labors in New York, the cholera commenced in 
the city, in 1832, when he was appointed by the 
common council to attend the sick in a certain part 
of the city. The influence of the infectious air re- 
sulting from it, operating on a constitution enfeebled 
by excessive labor, prostrated both his mental and 
physical organization, and he underwent long pro- 
tracted exercises and distress, in mind, body and. 
estate, from which the system never has, and pro- 
bably never will, fully recover. He provided for all 
the students, who were boarded and lodged in the 
building erected for the school; lectured daily to 
the students, gave advice and medicine at the in- 
firmary, superintended the pharmacutal prepar- 
tions; attended the out-door patients by day and by 
night; furnished matter for a weekly and daily 
paper; answered numerous letters, and a portion of 
the time prepared materials for his medical work, 
thus performing the labor of five or six men. Tliere- 
fore, from these combined causes, much to the 
triumph of his enemies, he was obliged to abandon 
the school. When the building was unjustly wrested 



468 WOOSTER BEACH. 

from him he involuntarily predicted to the agent 
that some curse would fall upon that house, which 
in a short time came to pass. One night the doctor 
heard the cry of fire ; an impression came to his 
mind that it was that building, and that it was not 
insured. He rose from his bed, visited the spot, and 
found the large and beautiful edifice in flames. The 
next day he saw the agent, who said that as soon 
as he heard of it, the prediction came to his mind. 
The doctor then asked him if it was insured ; with 
some hesitation he replied," No." From the history 
of the whole, it would appear to be a righteous 
judgment; and this opinion the doctor subsequently 
communicated to the owner, which caused in him 
great emotion. In this state of things the prospects 
of the school had all fallen. Such was the embar- 
rassed state of his affairs that he was obliged to 
remove with his family into the country. Under 
these circumstances he commenced preparing ma- 
terials for a new work, called the American Prac- 
tice in three volumes, giving the principles and im- 
provements of the system. Here, again, he had to 
encounter extraordinary difficulties in completing 
it. He found it necessary to make the work much 
larger than he had contemplated ; the printer agreed 
to give him a credit which subsequently he could 
not, or would not do; and after publishing one 
volume, he retained the sheets. Again, an action 
in law was commenced against the doctor, and he 
became so much embarrassed that he was obliged 
to suspend the publication of the work. At this 
time a firm, to whom the circumstances were 
communicated, advanced money, and thus enabled 
him to complete it and cancel all the debts. The 
work being very voluminous, had a slow sale. 
About this time a learned and distinguished physi- 
cian became a great advocate for it; forwarded 
copies to the different potentates of Europe, who 
had it examined and reviewed by their physician s 



WOOSTER BEACH. 469 

and sent letters of recommendation back, and as 
visible testimonials of the value they attached to it, 
also sent splendid gold medals, from the kings of 
France, Wurtemburgh, England, Saxony, Prussia, 
Tuscany, Russia, &c. With these medals were sent 
diplomas from the most distinguished medical and 
scientific societies. Subsequently a wealthy gen- 
tleman by the name of Turpin, a great friend to the 
cause of medical reform, left a legacy of five hun- 
dred dollars. It was of great service at this par- 
ticular juncture, thus affording an interesting con- 
trast to the sordid and selfish conduct of others. 
When the second edition of this work was nearly 
exhausted. Dr. Beach published an abridgment of 
the American Practice, called the Family Physician, 
which has been circulated very extensively, having 
passed through fifteen editions. The object of this 
has been to disseminate correct views in the prac- 
tice of medicine, among the people at large, as well 
as students and practitioners in general. 

In consequence of indiscretion on the part of the 
professor in the school at Worthington, Ohio, rela- 
tive to dissection, it became necessary to remove 
the institution to Cincinnati. A small school Avas 
opened there, consisting of only four or five students, 
in an obscure place, named by the opposition " a 
hay loft." It gradually increased until the number 
became respectable. Dr. T. V. Morrow, who was 
most indefatigable and persevering in promoting the 
cause, was the principal person in the establish- 
ment of it. But the same difficulties existed here 
to prevent its prosperity, as did in New York, par- 
ticularly as related to a charter. A petition was 
therefore forwarded to the legislature desiring them 
to grant a charter for a reformed school of medicine. 
Col. Kilbourne, a distinguished and talented gentle- 
man, who had seen much of the beneficial effects 
of the reformed practice, while trustee in the Wor- 
thington school, volunteered his services to attend 



470 WOOSTER BEACH. 

the whole session of the legislature and use his in- 
fluence in obtaining a charter. The petition was 
laid before the assembly, and the whole matter re- 
ferred to a committee, before whom the history and 
importance of the new practice were laid. The 
committee made a favorable report, and the ques- 
tion of granting a charter was discussed. The bill 
passed almost unanimously. The charter was there- 
fore granted, which unlike all others, is perpetual 
and permanent. 

From this epoch the school received a new im- 
petus, and has increased with a rapidity hitherto 
unknown in any school in America, the number of 
students having doubled every year since the char- 
ter was obtained. The subject of this sketch was 
appointed professor of clinical practice, and has 
hitherto delivered lectures in the institution, except 
the last year, being absent on a visit to Europe. A 
commodious building has been erected for the col- 
lege, which is now endowed with seven professors, 
giving advantages for medical instruction, not sur- 
passed by any other institution in America. For 
the benefit of this school and others, he has since 
published a treatise on midwifery, one on physiology 
and a botanical dictionary, as text books. Realizing 
the importance of still further informing the public 
mind on the subject of medical reform, he imported 
from Paris, several anatomical models of the human 
system, and delivered popular lectures in different 
sections of the country, in Boston, New York, Phi- 
ladelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cincinuati. 
He has employed some persons to assist him in 
practice, who at first held out great inducements 
and fair promises, but he soon found that all their 
professions were selfish and deceitful, which entailed 
additional embarrassment and suffering. 

Believing that a dissemination of correct physio- 
logical knowledge was necessary among the people, 
he commenced the establishment of an anatomical 



WOOSTER BEACH. 471 

museum, where the public might learn the mechan- 
ism of their own forms, and the laws which govern 
them. To this end he employed an artist to ex- 
ecute models in wax, and imported a vast number 
from Europe, all of which constituted one of the 
finest museums of the kind in the country. Another 
object which he had in view was to prevent the re- 
volting practice of dissections, which not only en- 
dangers the life of the student but causes great 
mental anguish in the minds of friends. 

His large work in three volumes being now out 
of print, and there becoming a demand for the same. 
Dr. Beach concluded to revise it and obtain all the 
improvements and new remedies available. Sup- 
posing he might gain much useful information 
abroad for this purpose, in May, 1848, he visited 
London, where, after remaining a few weeks, visit- 
ing the different medical institutions, he went to 
Rotterdam, in Holland ; from thence up the Rhine 
to Dusseldorf, from thence to Hanover, Brunswick, 
Leipsic and Berlin; from thence to Breslaw and 
Graffenburgh, in Silecia, to the celebrated water- 
cure establishment of Preissnitz, from thence to 
Vienna. Here he remained for some time, and 
visited about twelve medical, scientific and humane 
institutions. 

He now took passage up the Danube to Lentz ; 
from thence through Bavaria to Munich, to Stuttgard, 
&c., passing, down the Rhine to Colonge, to Brus 
sels in Belgium, from thence to Paris, in all passing 
through ten or twelve different kingdoms, and 
traveling about three thousand miles, in every place 
visiting the public institutions, and gathering ma- 
terials for his newly revised work. He spent about 
three months in Paris, and has now returned to Lon- 
don, prosecuting his labors and making every 
research and investigation possible, in the hospitals, 
anatomical museums, dispensaries, medical libra- 
ries, and exchanging ideas with medical men of 



472 RICHARD WINSLOW. 

different classes, to obtain every information possi- 
ble for the work. Findin,^ in London greater facili- 
ties and the best artists, in the work he employed 
about six of them to engrave his medical plants 
and pathological drawings. 

Since the subject of medical reformation was first 
agitated, a mighty revolution has taken place in the 
science of medicine, eftected by the combined ef- 
forts of the members of the retbrmed school, and 
such has been its influence upon the minds of the 
profession at large, both in Europe and America; 
that the sanguinary practice of blood-letting, as 
well as the injurious use of inetalic agents, has been 
much less resorted to in the treatment of disease. 
This affords ample reward for all the toil, and 
sacrifices in promoting it. The cause was feeble 
in its birth, but stronger and bolder in its progress, 
till now, under the blessing of Divine Providence, 
the Author of all good, it bids fair, like a mighty 
river, to bear down all opposition and become es- 
tablished on a lofty eminence. 



RICHARD WINSLOW. 

OOD men are remembered when the 

memory of the wicked is no more. The 

following sketch of this excellent man, is 

taken lirom a sermon on the occasion of his 

'death by the Reverend S. W Fisher: 

" Richard Winslow was born near Saybrook, 
Connecticut, on the 24th of July, 1771. His father, 
Job Winslow, was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
the residence of his ancestors for several genera- 
tions. "^He was a lineal descendant of Edward 

* The subject of this notice was the sixth in descent from Edward 
Winslow. 




RICHARD WINSLOW. 473 

Winslow, one of the original pilgrim band, brought 
by the May Flower to Plymouth Rock, and subse- 
quently the second governor of Plymouth colony. 
Thus our brother enjoyed a relationship to those 
noble men, who at the cost of sacrifices, to us almost 
inconceivable, laid the deep and broad foundations 
of our national existence and grandeur. I do not 
state this fact as a matter of idle boasting, but as 
another illustration of the faithfulness of God in re- 
membering the children's children of those who 
loved him, and suffered much in his cause. This 
is one among many instances in which you can 
trace down from generation to generation, a bright 
succession of pious decendants from the illustrious 
stock of the Puritans. It is this inheritance of 
spiritual benedictions, that more than all things else 
constitutes a pious ancestry a glory and a praise. 
Their prayers abide, operative and eifectual, long 
after the paternal lips that uttered them are sealed 
in death. And when eternity has received them, 
the memory of their instructions and their example 
remains a track of light, a pillar of fire to illuminate, 
and guide and attract heavenward the feet of their, 
it may be for a time, erring children. This it is 
which makes our ancestry a crown of glory. 

Mr. Winslow, animated by the same spirit of en- 
terprise, so characteristic of the sons of New Eng- 
land — a spirit which has been of incalculable 
advantage to the entire Union, in spreading every- 
where the leaven of puritanism — early left his 
father's roof to push his fortunes in this region. He 
first settled in Troy, then a thriving village; but 
after the lapse of some seven years, he removed to 
Albany in the year 1800. Here, with the exception 
of short intervals, he has resided ever since. His 
life has been one of great activity. Endowed with 
an impulsive and vigorous mind, fond of enter- 
prise, with a muscular frame and a good share of 
health, he loved to be ever actively and efficiently 

60 



474 RICHARD WINSLOW. 

at work. This trait in his character revealed itself 
strikingly during the last few months of his life, 
impelling him, in spite of the progress of an enfee- 
bling disease, to take his accustomed exercise, as if 
he was still in vigorous health. Much of his life 
was spent upon the water. For twenty years he 
commanded a packet vessel on the Hudson, in the 
days when that mode of transportation sustained 
the same relation to the traveling public, now 
maintained by our magnificent steamers. During 
the last war with England he was attached to the 
army of the north as commissary. He subsequently 
engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he contin- 
ued until within the last few years, when he retired 
from active life. 

A reverse in business first led him to serious re- 
flection on the vanity of this world, and the neces- 
sity of obtaining a title to an inheritance that 
would never fade away. He became a renewed 
man, and in the year 1818 united with the Second 
Presbyterian church of Albany, then under the care 
of the Reverend John Chester. In 1829 he formed 
one of the band who originated the Fourth Presby- 
terian church.^ In March 1st, 1837, he was elected 
a ruling elder, and continued with exemplary fidel- 
ity devoted to the duties of this office until his 
death. He lived to see his six sons well settled in 
life, and his only daughter reach maturity. He died 
on the 9tli day of January, 1847, at half-past three 
in the afternoon, of a disease with which he had 
been occasionally troubled for more than forty years. 
At his death, therefore, he was one of the oldest in- 
habitants of Albany, and one of the oldest packet 
masters — a class of men now nearly extinct, but who 
before the era of steam navigation were prominent 
and influential in our municipal aftairs. He, with 
one exception, was the oldest member of the session. 
He has gone from us, a father and an elder, to that 

* Formed February 2d, 1829. 



WORDEN PAYNE. 475 

world where age renews its youth and a perennial 
vigor prechides disease and forbids the approach of 
death." 

His respected widow still survives, and is a resi- 
dent of Albany. 



< » « » » — 




WORDEN PAYNE, 

N excellent man, after an honored and 
useful life, died at his residence in 
Hounsfield, Jefferson county. New 
York, March 3d, 1849, in the 55th year 
of his age. 
During his eventful career, the deceased 
took a prominent part in public affairs. He 
was one of the early settlers and pioneers in 
what is known as the Black river country, 
having removed there in 1803 from the state of 
Massachusetts. By dint of perseverance, industry 
and honest dealing he became well oft^ as to this 
world's goods, and made use of the means which 
Providence had thus placed in his power, in a man- 
ner which will long be remembered by the recipients 
of his bounty. He was emphatically the poor man's 
friend, casting his bread upon the waters with a 
liberal hand, and ere this, we have every reason to 
hope, " it has been returned unto him seven fold." 
Pending the war of 1812, Mr. Payne volunteered 
to raise a company of infantry, and meeting with 
success, he was unanimously selected as the cap- 
tain. His company was immediately enrolled in 
the regiment commanded by General Jacob Brown, 
and was efficiently and bravely engaged in the bat- 
tle of Sackett's harbor. Mr. Payne has always 
enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his neighbors, 
and has been repeatedly elected to various town 



476 R. B. DUNN. 

and county offices, the duties of which he fulfilled 
with promptness and energy. He died after a ling- 
ering illness, which he bore with Christian patience 
and fortitude, and although his spirit has departed to 
" that bourne from whence no traveler returns," yet 
the memory of his good deeds will live in the minds 
of men for years after the grass shall have waved 
over his last resting place. His children and his 
children's children may, indeed, look back with an 
honest pride to their ancestor, who was, emphati- 
cally, a man without reproach. 

George R. Payne of Albany is a brother of the 
deceased. 




R. B. DUNN. 

ET not the day of small things be despised. 
This sentence contains wisdom and philo- 
sophy, as well as scripture. It is very easy 
I and natural to sneer at small beginnings and 
humble means, but it is not always wise to do 
so. It is better to commence on an humble 
scale, and come out in good style at last, than to 
suffer a severe collapse after an extensive and 
ridiculous flourish. Some men will do better with 
a capital of sixpence, than they would if half the 
fortune of Astor had been given them to commence 
with. We have heard it told of a man worth his 
millions, that he commenced by selling fruit at a 
street stall. We have seen boys at school roll a 
handful of ^now upon the ground, till by accumu- 
lated matter, it became so bulky that a dozen could 
scarcely move it. Sands make the mountains, mo- 
ments make the year, drops make the ocean; and 
so, little endeavors, earnestly, unceasingly, and 
honestly put forth, make the great men in the 
world's history. 



R. B. DUNN. 477 

It is related of Chantrey, the celebrated sculptor, 
that, when a boy, he was observed by a gentleman 
in the neighborhood of Sheffield very attentively 
engaged in cutting a stick with a penknife. He 
asked the lad what he was doing ; when, with great 
courtesy, he replied, " I am cutting old Fox's head." 
Fox was the schoolmaster of the village. On this 
the gentleman asked to see what he had done, and 
pronouncing it to be an excellent likeness, gave the 
youth a six-pence. And this may be reckoned the 
first money Chantrey ever received for the produc- 
tion of his art. 

This anecdote is but one of a thousand that 
might be cited of as many different men who from 
very limited and small beginnings rise to stations 
and influence; and shows the importance of not 
despising the day of small things, in any condition 
or circumstance of life. All nature, in fact, is full 
of instructive lessons on this point, which it would 
be well for us more thoroughly to study and appre- 
ciate. 

Perhaps a more striking illustration of the above 
remark can not be found than in the enterprising 
individual whose name is at the head of this 
sketch. 

North Wayne, in the State of Maine, three years 
ago, was unknown in gazetteers or by map-makers. 
Mr. R. B. Dunn arrived there with small means, 
great enterprise and perseverance. He measured 
the fall of the idle river for water-power. He found 
sufficient for a large business of any nature. He 
commenced a small establishment to manufacture 
scythe# and axes. He succeeded well, and now 
there are three immense factories there, two of them 
each one hundred feet long. He makes twelve 
thousand dozen of scythes annually, and uses up 
four hundred and fifty thousand pounds of iron, 
seventy-five thousand pounds of steel, twelve thou- 
sand tons of coal, twelve thousand bushels of char- 



478 JOHN ALBRIGHT. 

coal, and one hundred tons of grindstones, and 
employs two hundred and fifty persons about the 
establishments. Next year, he calculates to make 
seventeen thousand dozen of scythes. This place 
is sixteen miles from the nearest steam boat naviga- 
tion on the Kenebec. All his materials are brought 
from England, Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia, 
except charcoal, and his market extends to the 
remotest bounds of the West. 




JOHN ALBRIGHT. 

•ARCH 2, 1845, at East Homer, New York, 
John Albright, a revolutionary patriot, 
breathed his last. At an early age he en- 
^ Lged in the service of his country during her 
/p*lN revolutionary struggle ; was twice taken pri- 
^' ^ soner, once by the British at Fort Montgomery 
and exchanged at New York, and immediately re- 
turned to the army, and then fell into the hands of 
the Indians at Fort Stanwix, and was then prisoner 
eighteen months in Canada. In his captivity and 
service he paid almost every thing but life for 
American liberty. Forty-eight years ago he settled 
on the land he drew for his services in that town, 
where he has filled up his measure with credit to 
himself and usefulness to others. He embraced the 
Christian religion soon after his settlement in Homer, 
and liberally contributed to its interests through 
life, and in his death his numerous oftspring*do not 
sorrow as those without hope. He maintained an 
unbending attachment to civil and religious liberty 
to the last. He was most emphatically the poor 
man's friend, as many have most sensibly felt. His 
death is widely lamented, for a man of more hum- 
ble character seldom lived. 



LYDIA GUSTIN. 



479 




LYDIA GUSTIN. 

rONNECTICUTis the native state of this lady. 

She was born at Lyme on the 2oth of June, 

1746. Her maiden name was Mack. In 

'her twenty-third year she married John Giistin, 

who died about thirty years ago. 

Mrs. Gustin was always a hard worker, and 
during her hundredth year she knit twenty-four 
pair of stockings. She was the mother of five 
children, all of whom attained maturity. The 
second child died a few years since, aged seventy- 
three. The younger, a son with whom she lived, is 
sixty-five, and the eldest child, now living, is eighty- 
three. All her children were at home the day she 
was an hundred years old. She remembered the old 
French war, and distinctly recollected a circumstace 
at school when she was but three years old. She 
has left several descendants of the fifth generation. 
One of the sisters lived to the age of seventy-seven. 
Mrs. Gustin died at Marlow, New Hampshire, on 
the 20th of July, 1847, aged one hundred and one 
years and twenty-five days. 



GILBERT RAY, 



m 



NOWN as a patriot of the revolution, and 
one of the last survivors of that heroic band, 
who, in the hour of our country's darkness 
and danger, periled life and limb for the cause 
of American freedom, was born in Wrentham, 
Massachusetts. 
For upwards of twenty years, Deacon Ray resided 
Tinmouth, Vermont, and thence removed to 




480 GILBERT RAY. 

North Russell, twenty-two years ago. For nearly 
fifty years he was a member of the Presbyterian 
church, and a deacon in the same nearly forty, and 
from the time of his conversion to his death he was a 
strictobserver of the ordinances of the Christian faith, 
and a devoted friend of missions, sabbath schools 
and other religious and benevolent objects. He 
lived to receive from his country a pecuniary reward 
for his revolutionary toils, and, at last, full of con- 
fidence and hope in the Saviour's promises, sunk 
peacefully into the arms of death. 

He died March 17th, 1849, at North Russell, New 
York, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, leaving an 
aged widow, with whom he had lived sixty-three 
years, and reared a family of eleven children. His 
descendants number upwards of one hundred. 




iin^ravecLly X Dnnsy. 




flATE MEMBER OF CnNOSESS./ 



Kht. : 



';s InMilute Now-York 



4 



,i#' 



A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY 

» 
OF THE 

LIFE OF HON. ZADOCK PRATT, A. M. 



1790, Oct. 30. Born at Stephentown, Rensselaer countjj 
New York, and in his early days worked with his father at tan- 
ning, at Middleburgh, Scoharie county, N. Y. 

1799. Was at the funeral of Gen. Washington. 

1802. Removed to Windham, now Lexington. Greene county, 

N. Y. 

1810. Apprenticed to Luther Hays, a saddler, in Durham* 

1811. Worked at his trade a year as a journeyman saddler j 
at $10 a month. 

1812. Commenced business on his own account in Lexing^ 
ton, as a saddler, working from fourteen to sixteen hours a day* 
Here he commenced keeping an inventory, which he ever prac- 
ticed afterwards during life, making over $500 the first year^ 
and never less a single year afterwards. 

1814. Adds merchandizing to his saddling, and, by diligence 
and the strictest economy, is successful. 

1814. Went as a soldier for the defence of New York city, 
then menaced by the fleets of the enemy ; while there, he re- 
sists the corruption of the commissary, and forces him to do 
justice to the soldiers. 

1815. Sells out his stock in trade, and is fortunate in escap-^ 
ing loss from the commercial revulsion which followed the 
peace ; forms a partnership with his two brothers in tanning. 

1818, Oct. 18. Is married to Miss Beda Dickerman, of 
Hampden, Conn., who died 19th April, 1819. 

1818, Dec. Makes a voyage by sea to Charleston, S. C. ; 
sea-sick going, and sea-sick coming ; learnt enough of sea- 
faring life. 

1821, April 21. Unanimously chosen captain in the fifth 
regiment of New York State Artillery, and uniforms the com= 
pany at his own expense. 



10* A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE 

1821. Ill the winter of this year makes an excursion to 
Canada, with leather, for the purchase of furs, during which he 
encamps in tlie woods upon the snow. Returning, is taken by 
a hxndlord at Albany to be a wanderer, not entitled to hospital- 
ity, on aiccount of his worn and soiled garments, but who, on 
finding *him possessed of a heavy bag of dollars, suddenly be- 
comes the pink of politeness to our traveller. 

1822. July 12. Is unanimously elected Colonel of the 116th 
regiment of infantry of the State of New York. 

1823. Is married to his second wife, Miss Esther Dicker- 
man, sister to his first wife ; she died 22d April, 1826. 

1824. Is appointed Justice of the Peace for the county of 
Greene. 

1824, Oct. 6. Received a vote of thanks from the Presby- 
tery at Lexington, for a donation of ^100 in aid of the mission- 
ary cause. 

1825. Built his great tannery in the woods of Windham, 
where has since grown up under his auspices the flourishing 
village of Prattsville, now numbering 2000 inhabitants, as in- 
dustrious, prosperous and happy as any in the State — having 
now three churclies, to the expense of each he contributed one- 
third, and one-half to the Academy. 

1825, Escorts Gen. Lafaj^ette into Catskill. 

1826, Sept. 4. Resigns his commission as Colonel of Militia 
to the Governor of the State. 

1827, Oct. 12. Is married to his third wife, Miss Abigail 
P. Watson, daughter of Wheeler Watson, Esq., of Rensselaer. 
She died Feb. 5, 1834. 

1827. Is elected Supervisor of the town of Windham. 

1825 — 1835. This was the busy scene of life — from 35 to 
45 years of age — during which he accumulated a large portion 
of his wealth. 

1832. The town of Windham divided, and the westerly 
portion called Prattsville, after the name of the founder. 

1835, March 16. Married his fourth wife, Miss Mary E. 
Watson, sister of his third consort. 

1835. Receives the thanks of the Delaware Circuit for the 
donation of a lot of ground for the use of the Elder of that 
Circuit. 

1836, March. Builds a bridge over Scoharie kill, 130 feet 
long, the snow three feet deep in the woods, in eleven days, 
without the use of ardent spirits. 

1836, Nov. Is elected a Representative in Congress from 



LIFE OF HON. ZADOCK PRATT. *11 

the Eighth Congressional District of New York. At the same 
election was chosen one of the Electors of President and Vice 
President from New York, and gave his vote for Van Buren 
and Johnson. 

1837, Sept. 4. Takes his seat in Congress at the extra 
session, called by Mr. Van Buren. 

1837, Sept. 4. Is appointed one of the standing committee 
on the militia. 

1837, Oct. Receives the silver medal of the New York In- 
stitute, being the first ever granted to a tanner, for the best 
specimen of hemlogk-tanned sole leather. 

1837, Dec. 11. Is appointed one of the standing committee 
on public buildings and grounds. 

1838, March 11. Moved a resolution in favor of the reduc- 
tion of postage, thus originating a great and favorite measure, 
which lie rejoiced to see accomplished, and which has proved 
of such vast benefit to the Avhole United States. 

1838, March 12. Presented the resolution of the State of 
New York, and submitted a resolution providing for procuring 
foreign seeds and plants, to be distributed gratuitously to the 
farmers of the United States, through the medium of the Patent 
Office, to benefiit the farming interests. 

1838, July 4t]i. Publishes an address to his constituents, 
partially reviewing the proceedings in Congress, and declining 
a re-election. 

1839, Jan. 28. Moved a resolution of inquiry respecting 
the material of which the public buildings at Washington are 
constructed. 

1839, Feb. 25. Presented a report on the quality of the 
materials used in constructing the public buildings at Wash- 
ington, concluding with a resolution that the material hereafter 
used for that purpose, shall be of the hardest and most durable 
kind, either marble or granite. At the same time he submitted 
a plan and estimates for the new General Post-Office, and that 
building, the finest in Washington, has since been erected of 
marble, according to his plan, and is said to be the finest build- 
ing in the world. 

1839, March 1. Delivers a speech in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, on the subject of constructing a Dry Dock at Brook- 
lyn, full of valuable statistics, on commerce, navigation, imports, 
exports and bullion, for ten years. 

1839. Moved the bill for establishing a Branch Mint in the 
city of New York. 



'% 




12* A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE 

1839, Julj 4. Delivers an oration at Prattsville. *' 

1839, Sept. Was elected a member of the American Insti- 
tute. 

1839, Oct. 25. Offers five thousand dollars to endow an 
Academy in Prattsville, on condition that the like sum be raised 
bj any Christian denomination. 

1842, Nov. Is chosen a Representative in Congress from 
the Eleventh Congi-essional District of New York. 

1842, Dec. 29. Delivers an address before the Mechanics' 
Society at Catskill, of which he was a member. 

1843, Establishes a Bank at Prattsville, with $100,000 
capital, wholly secured by 6 and 7 per cent, stocks of the 
United States and State of New York — its bills kept at par in 
the city of New York. 

1844, Jan. 3. Offers resolution providing for uniform annual 
returns of banks, suitiible forms to be furnished by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, in order that a more perfect system 
might be adopted for the benefit of the community. He offered 
a similar resolution 11th Jan., 1839. 

1844, Jan. 8. Moved an amendment to the resolution in 
favor of the remission of the fine upon Gen. Jackson, to place 
on record the fiict, that fifteen out of seventeen millions of the 
inhabitants of the United States had so instructed their delega- 
tions in Congress. 

1844, Jan. 12. Gives notice of offering a bill for establish- 
ing a Branch Mint at New York ; same day, gave notice for bill 
amending naturalization laws, which were afterwards presented. 

1844, Jan. 17. Presented the resolutions of the Legislature 
of the State of New York to remit the fine of Gen. Jackson. 

1844, Jan. 29. Moved the appointment of a select com- 
mittee to inquire into the expediency of establishing a Bureau 
of Statistics and Commerce, in connection with the Secretary 
of the Treasury. Is appointed chairman of said committee. 

1844, Jan. Elected President of the Greene County Agri- 
cultural Society. 

1844, Feb. Was on board the Princeton at the time of the 
explosion of its great gun, Avhen Messrs. Upshur, Gilmer, and 
others were killed — and was the first man who had nerve, and 
was collected enough to attend at once to the care of the unfor- 
tunate killed and wounded. 

1844, March 7. Makes a report on the application of the 
citizens of Washington to have a clock furnished at the public 
expense. 



■HT 



^ 



LIFE OF HON. ZADOCK PRATl. *13 

" 1844, March 7. Makes a report on the situation, cost, &c., 
of the public buildings and grounds, and expenditures of the 
Presidential Mansion. 

1844, March 8. Submits a report as chairman of the select 
committee on the Bureau of Statistics and Commerce, Avith 
valuable tables, showing the loans and discounts of the banks, 
imports and exports, and balance of trade, for a series of years, 
of our government with other nations, illustrating the import- 
ance of the proposed measure, and concluding with a bill to 
provide for the collection of national statistics. 

1844, March 18. Moved resolution respecting care and 
management of the furnaces used to heat the halls and rooms 
of the Capitol. 

1844, April 12. Offers a joint resolution for the appropria- 
tion of the public ground for a National Monument. 

1844, April 12. Reported bill for an addition of a wing to 
the Patent Office. 

1844, April 12. Makes additional report on the plan sub- 
mitted by him for fire-proof buildings for the War and Navy 
Departments. 

1844, May 15. Moved joint resolution authorizing the 
transfer of certain clerks in the treasury department to perform 
the duties of the bureau of statistics, agreeably to the report of 
the select committee on that subject, which resolution was 
adopted. 

1844, May 24. Makes report, with plan and estimates, on 
the proposed change of the Hall and Library of the House of 
Representatives. 

1844, May 25. Makes report on the expenditures in the 
District of Columbia, from the foundation of the government, 
showing an expenditure exceeding ten millions of dollars. 

1844, May 25. Makes report on the Monument Square, 
submitting a plan, diagram, and drawing for a National Monu- 
ment to Washington. 

1844, May 25. Moved joint resolution requiring an inven- 
tory once in two years, of all public property to be returned 
from all persons having any in charge, in order that public 
officers and legislators might have a more perfect knowledge of 
the property in charge of the government. 

1844, May 25. Made report, accompanied with a joint re- 
solution providing for the laying out and fencing the Monument 
Square. 

1844, June 5. Offers joint resolution providing for the mode 



^ 



14* A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE 

of making returns of public property in possession of oflBcers of 
the government. 

1844, June 7. Moved a joint resolution for the preparing 
and distribution of the national medals to the state libraries, 
colleges and academies. 

1844, June 7. Moved resolution providing that monuments 
hereafter erected to deceased members of Congress, should be 
constructed of marble instead of sandstone, heretofore used. 

1844, June 7. Moved a resolution directing topographical 
bureau to cause a plan of the city of Washington, and views 
of the capitol and public buildings to be engraved, and copies 
to be sent as presents by ministers and consuls, to foreign 
courts, translated into their languacres. 

1844, June 15. Resolution adopted on his motion, provid- 
ing for the collection of statistics, on the plan of the bureau 
submitted in his report of the 8th of March. 

1844, June 17. Makes report on the errors in the sixth 
census. 

1844, August 29. The democratic convention in Greene 
county passed a vote of thanks to Col. Pratt for his eminent 
public services, and untiring devotion to the business of the 
present session of Congress, and especially in placing on record 
the fact that more than 14,000,000 of American freemen had 
instructed their representatives to vote for refunding to Gen. 
Jackson the fine imposed upon him Avhile fighting for his coun- 
try at New Orleans. In establishing a Bureau of Statistics, 
which is of incalculable benefit to Legislation — to government 
in all its departments, and to the business men of the country. 
In causing a resolution to be passed, by which the inventions 
of our mechanics which are patented are to be lithographed 
and furnished to each town free of expense. For his admir- 
able taste in the construction of public buildings, in the laying 
out and disposition of the public grounds, and in the surpass- 
ingly beautiful monument to the memory of Washington. In 
the various and able reports from time to time submitted by 
him to that body, and finally in causing government like indi- 
viduals to take and keep an inventory of the property of the 
nation. 

1844, December 4. Moved a resolution authorizing the sec 
retary of war to loan marquees and tents to state agricultural 
societies for their fairs. 

1844, December 26. Introduced joint resolution providing 
for periodical renewals and greater security of bonds of public 
officers. 



LIFE OF HON. ZADOCK PRATT. *15 

** 1844, December 31. Moved joint resolution providing for 
the selection of a site for the National Washington Monument. 

1844, Dec. 31. Makes report on the necessity of providing 
additional buildings for the accommodation of the War and 
Navy Departments. 

1845, January 10. Reports bill providing for the painting, 
repairing, &c., of the Presidential Mansion, and other public 
buildings. 

1845, Jan. 11. Received vote of thanks from the Washing- 
toii Monument Society, for his untiring exertions in their be- 
half, and for the plan and map by him submitted. 

1845, January 28. Offers joint resolution for the preserva- 
tion of flags, and other trophies taken in battle. 

1845, January 28. Makes report on national trophies, ac- 
companied with the above resolution. 

1845, January 28. Makes report with plans and drawings, 
and estimates for the War and Navy Department, accompanied 
with bill. 

1845, January 28. With introductory remarks, presents 
the memorial of Asa Whitney, on the importance of a National 
Railroad to the Pacific. 

1845, January 28. Submits reports on the ventilation of the 
Representatives' Hall, and to prevent the echo so much com- 
plained of by speakers. 

1845, February 7. Submits additional report on the im- 
portance of a statistical bureau, accompanied with a joint reso- 
lution for the establishment of the same. 

1845, February 15. Submits proposition for the extension 
of American commerce, and proposing a mission to Corea and 
Japan, a people of over seventy Diillions, with whom we have 
no communication, and whose ports our ships are not allowed to 
enter. 

1845, February 19. Presents a memorial from forty-seven 
editors and authors in favor of placing magazines and periodi- 
cals on the same footing with newspapers as respects mail 
privileges, in furtherance of his plan of providing for a cheap 
and uniform postage. 

1845, February 21. Moved resolution for the appointment 
of three commissioners to investigate tlie public departments 
and bureaux at Washington, with a view to a better organiza- 
tion, and an equalization of duties and salaries of public officers. 

1845. Moved estimates and plan for erecting dwellings for 
the five heads of departments, opposite the Presidential Mansion. 



16* A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE 

1845, February 25. Makes report on the statistics of the 
United States, the population, revenue, production, and sho"W- 
ing the relative condition of the northern and southern states. 

1845, February 25. Makes a report on the national edifices 
at Washington. 

1845, February. That three Commissioners be appointed 
whose duty it shall be, during the recess of Congress, to ex- 
amine into all the departments in the various offices of govern- 
ment, with the vicAv of remodelling said departments, for the 
purpose of equalizing salaries and duties. 

1845, February 26. Reports a bill for amendment of the 
naturalization laws. 

1845, February 27. Moved an amendment to the general 
appropriation bill, providing for the sun'ey, under direction of 
the Secretary of War, of a rail road route from Lake Michigan 
to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, to Oregon. 

1845, February 28. Moved a bill respecting the Smithson- 
ian Institute, the substance of which has since become a law, 
providing that a portion of the income of the Smithsonian fund 
should be appropriated for the improvement of agriculture and 
the mechanic arts. 

1845, March 3. Makes report on the salaries of all the 
officers employed at Washington, showing the amount received 
by each, and the states from Avhich they were appointed. 

1845, March 3. Makes report on the duties upon imports 
and tonnage and revenue, by states, showing the amount col- 
lected each year, from the foundation of the government. 

1845, March 3. Makes report on a proposed new mode of 
taking the yeas and nays in the House, by machinery connected 
with the Speaker's table. 

1845, March 5. In an addi-ess to his constituents, review- 
ing his acts while in Congress, and giving an account of his 
stewardship, he declines a re-election to Congress. 

1845, June. Receives thanks of the Greene County Agri- 
cultural Society for a donation of $250, for the promotion of 
agriculture and the mechanic arts. 

1845, July 1. Is elected an honorary member of the Frank- 
lin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, (in the city of Phila- 
delphia,) for the promotion of the mechanic arts. 

1845, September 25. Delivers an address before the Greene 
County Agricultural Society, of which he was President. 

1845. Offers resolution providing for the engraving of 



LIFE OF HON. ZADOCK PRATT. *17 

patents, and their distribution to every town and county 
and public library in the United States, for the benefit of 
mechanics, to whom those inestimable plans are now like a 
sealed book. 

1845. Offers a resolution providing for the execution of 
busts, by native artists, of all the Presidents, to be placed in 
the Capitol. 

1845. Moves a bill providing for the establishment of the 
•' free banking system in the District of Columbia, similar to the 
free banking law of New York. 

1845. Offers a resolution calling on the secretary of state 
to furnish the statistics of Texas, pending her admission into 
the Union. 

1845. Is elected an honorary member of the Peithessophian 
Society of Rutgers College, New Jersey. 

1846. Received a similar honor from Middletown College, 
Connecticut. 

1846. Closed the concerns of his tannery at Prattsville, 
after tanning over a million sides of sole leather, using one 
hundred and fifty thousand cords of bark, from ten square 
miles of bark laud, and clearing over five thousand acres, 
one thousand years of labor, and some $6,000,000 of money, 
•without a litigated law-suit, or having a single side stolen. 

1846. Elected honorary member of the Louisiana State 
Agricultural and Mechanics' Association. 

1846. Is elected a corresponding member of the American 
Agricultural Association. 

1847, March. With a view of acquiring, from personal ob- 
servation, a practical knowledge of the peculiar institutions of 
the south, as compared with those of the north, makes a tour 
with his son, then a lad of eighteen, through the whole of the 
southern and south-western states. 

1847, August 28. Addresses a letter to the people of the 
United States, on the importance of a railroad across the con- 
tinent to the Pacific ocean. 

1847, September 23. Delivers an address at the dedication 
of the Spencertown Academy. 

1847, November 22. Receives thanks from Spencertown 
Academy, for a liberal donation. 

1847, November 27. Communication in answer to an inquiry 
of the American Institute, explaining the system of the Pratts- 



18* CHRONOLOGY 0¥ TUK LIFE OF ZADOCK PRATT. 
f 

villc tannery, of its management, and the extent of its opera- 
tions. 

1848, January 4. Delivers a lecture before the Mercantile 
Library Association of the city of Hudson. Subject : Mind 
•• your business. 

1848, January 4. At the annual meeting of the Greene 
County Agricultural Society, held at Cairo, it was — Resolved, 
That the thanks of the Greene Co. Agricultural Society be 
tendered to the Hon. Zadock Pratt, late President, for his .» 
., valuable services and able superintendence of the afl'airs of the 

said society ; and also — Resolved, That the thanks of the said 
society be presented to Hon. Zadock Pi-att for his liberal dona- 
tions in sustaining and carrying out the measures and objects - 
of said society. 

1848, January 14. Received the thanks of the Greene Co. 
Baptist Missionary Society, for donation. 

1848. The American Biographical Sketch Book, containing 
the lives of 130 eminent citizens, with portraits, was dedicated 
by the Editor, Wm. Hunt, Esq., " To Zadock Pratt, the 
Friend of the Mechanic, and the Patron of all that is useful." 
This same year, " Scientific Agriculture, or the Elements of 
Chemisti-y, Botany, and Meteorology, applied to Practical 
Agriculture, by M. M. Rodgers, M. D.," was dedicated to 
Hon. Zadock Pratt. 

1848. Makes the third annual report to the N. Y. State 
Agricultural society, as president of the Greene County Agri- 
cultural Society, giving tlie geological, agricultural and com- 
mercial statistics of the county of Greene. 

1848, March 7. Is elected a corresponding member of the 
New York Historical Society. 

1848, July 23. Received the honorary degree of Master of 
Arts from Union College ; the first instance in this state of a 
similar honor conferred upon a self-taught mechanic. 

1849, January 2. Elected President of the Mechanics In- 
stitute of the city of New York. 

1849, January 16. Delivers an address on his inauguration 
as President of the Mechanics Institute, City Hall, N. York. 



O 

f 
PI 

M 

fa 

> 

H 

O 



o 



> 
> 



H 




> 



I 






^ ■J 






•I 

T 
J 

.; 

•J 

■:: 

1 



